Taken
by White Fairy Writer
Summary: People all over Domino have suddenly gone missing, and when Tristan disappears the gang knows they have to kick their investigation into overdrive. Add in a Noah back from the beyond, and Teá doesn't even stand a chance.
1. Chapter 1

Tea stood on the school steps, waiting. _They had to come, they had to! _She thought urgently, straining her eyes to see when the boys came into her sight. People had been disappearing all over Domino, and when no bodies started appearing the police's only theory on the issue had been mass kidnapping. They had told the Domino population to take extra precaution, and even for the risk takers to back off just until someone could be taken into custody. But this was Domino, and Tea knew better. No single person, or even a group of people could have done this. And Tea knew from personal experience that this wasn't just mass kidnapping, it was people being Taken. She had been walking home with her friend Jess the week before, and while they were talking she just vanished. No one in a van had come had pulled her in before speeding off, she was simply walking on the side walk one second and the next Tea was walking by herself.

This was Domino City, people didn't just disappear unless evil was rising.

Not even Yugi or The Pharaoh could figure it out, and when the leader didn't know what was up it made her a little nervous.

So here she was waiting, and praying, and hoping.

Trudging up the path was Yugi, and with a gasp of relief she ran down and hugged.

"I was so worried you would be Taken!" She exclaimed breaking the hug with a smile.

"I'm not gone yet." He replied with a smile, a blush still on his face from his friend's hug. "Have you seen Joey or Tristan?" Tea shook her head and looked toward the school gate in apprehension. A minute later Joey slumped into their presence.

"Joey!" She cried, giving the blond a hug with relief. Her friend remained stiff and cold. "Joey?" She asked quietly in fear.

"Tristan's Taken." He muttered, and Tea gasped in horror.

"What do you mean Taken?" Yugi asked in shock.

"He wasn't home, and he ain't at any of the usual hangouts. He's Taken." Joey said coldly, and pushed passed the two and entered the school.

"Tristan can't be Taken, can he?" Tea asked in horror. One third of the school was Taken, not to mention half the teachers and Nurse Cline. Almost everyone in Domino was Taken, and the one man left on City Council was seriously considering evacuating the city.

But there were also reports of disappearances happening outside Domino too.

"What are we supposed to do, Yugi?" Tea whispered.

"I-I don't know." He replied shakily.

"Well, hey, let's go in. I heard Mrs. Krystal disappeared so I bet we won't be having AP World History!" Tea said cheerfully, trying to lighten the black mood she was feeling. If Tristan was Taken, what did that mean? Where would he be hidden?

"Mr. Marks isn't here either, that kills off calculus." Yugi replied spiritless.

"See? These are good things. So, did Vice Principal Coro ever find a lunch lady replacement?" Tea asked while smiling, although her heart was full of darkness. The two entered the empty school pretending everything was okay.

! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

Yugi and Tea headed toward one of the only restaurants still open in Domino City in a gloomy mood. Tristan was gone, Taken, and no one had ever reappeared after being Taken. Yugi and The Pharaoh had been trying to find a way to save everybody, but so far they hadn't found a single thing that could help them. The two chatted quietly, and sipped sodas with out much enthusiasm, took a single bite of a french fri and said they were full. The two had decided to sit outside, and as they ate listlessly they felt the wind blow at them in whispers. Suddenly a girl was standing by the table looking at Yugi intently.

"Uh, hello?" He asked a little unsure. He had fans always coming up to him these days, but this didn't seem like the typical type.

"You. You aren't...normal. Soul,.….double. Two in one, you-you aren't full. You are...Pharaoh." She gasped. Her black hair flew back in astonishment, and her bright green eyes grew wide. "A double being." She whispered, and then like that she ran away faster than we could see.

"What? Wait!" Yugi called in confusion, but she was already gone.

"Weird." Tea sighed, not really caring about these little episodes anymore. Ever since Yugi had solved the puzzle, these kind of chats had become more and more frequent, so half the population just up and disappearing and some crazy girl muttering about Yugi's 'double being' status wasn't sounding to weird to the dancer that day.


	2. Rek

_**I forgot to mention I own nothing related to or involved in the Yugioh series. I am writing for the sole purpose of writing and for my writing to be enjoyed by those who read it.**_

Tea stretched her leg muscles trying to find a balance. Everything was out of whack now, Tristan was gone, Joey might as well be a loner since he refuses to speak to us anymore, and when he did it was barely a sentence. Yugi and The Pharaoh were trying to figure something out, a clue, anything, and were coming up empty again and again. For now, Tea focused on her dancing. She had saved up just enough money to attend Starz Dance Academy once a week, and so here she was trying to focus her crazy mind on dance. In the beginning, there had been at least twenty dancers, but now we barely held at six and were in constant danger of losing another dancer to the number of the Taken. Miss Kelsey, our dance instructed, was clapping her hands and calling us to attention.

"Girls! Girls! We will be having a new student join us today. She's extremely wealthy, so be nice to her." She began, but Melissa, a dancer, interrupted her.

"You never let anyone in after registration, you always told us it made someone more privileged when dancing isn't about money."

"Well, after all those Taken I barely survive on the tuition I get from your parents, so if you'd just excuse my selfishness." Miss Kelsey replied sarcastically. "She comes from Egypt, and her name is Rek, she should be her soon." Right on cue a tall, lithe, teen, black haired girl ran into the room, dropping into a quick curtsy in front of Miss Kelsey before joining the remaining dancers in a line. "Girls this is Rek."

"Hey." The Egyptian smiled. She had bright green eyes and long black hair that was quickly falling out of its bun. She was wearing brown workout pants and a thin pale orange T-shirt with some words in her native language written across. Something was familiar about her...

"I know you!" She suddenly exclaimed. "I saw you yesterday.

"Oh yeah!" Rek smiled brightly. "You were with the double spirit."

"Yugi." She corrected.

"Yes him."

"What are you doing here?" Tea demanded confused. Rek looked thoughtful, and then frowned.

"That would take a considerable amount of time, and at present I wish to dance. Is that not why we are here?" Rek replied, and Miss Kelsey began the practice, throwing us into lunges, pirouettes, and so many complicated moves that the French name always escaped Tea's mind. Rek moved through the moves with a glamorous air, and she always knew how to make the move as elegant as possible. In that first practice, Rek proved that it wasn't just money that had gotten her into the Academy, and I was also obvious her dancing was on par with the greatest dancers of any generation. The girl was barely exerting herself by the time class was over, had won over the teacher's undeniable acceptance, and the respect of every dancer in the class.

"Class is over, I expect more from you Jeanie! Your stances were deplorable at best and Annabel, the solo I let you perform is worse than Shakespeare as a child, his poetry was flawless, and your moves makes your song worthless at best." As Miss Kelsey continued berating her class Tea waited in anticipation to hear how she would be degraded. "And Tea, your dance didn't make me want to cry." Tea cheered silently, this was the closest she had come to a compliment from the best, and strictest, dance teacher left in Domino. "Rek! You were...exceptional. Class, this is the type of commitment I demand in your dance! Make it come alive, make it seem effortless, left the dance flood through you! Into your very veins! This is the type of dance I expect from you, class! You are, well the last, of my best dancers! You have just been shown up by a newbie dancer, and I expected better of you. Rek, you are the greatest student to ever enter my studio, and I am humbled by your presence."

"Thank you Madam Drair." Rek replied with a self conscious smile as she dropped into another curtsy of gratitude.

"See, class? Rek shows me courtesy her first class here, and all you, my supposed 'best', only say 'Miss Kelsey'. I think you all need to learn a few lessons from this wise Egyptian." And with that, Miss Kelsey, ahem _Madam_ _Drair_, stalked out the door with her graceful dancer's walk.

"Thanks a lot, _Rek._" One of Tea's fellow dance students sneered. "She was worse _before_, now we got to worry about her and a sudden interest in manners. I bet we'll end up curtsying to her too now. Thanks, _Rek_, what a dumb name."

"I was named proudly, and I am not ashamed of my birth name. As for my manners, I would prefer to be overly polite than a disgrace to my family." Rek replied, picking up a bright yellow bag that she had set by a far wall before practice had begun. "If you will excuse me," She said, nodding her head in her fellow dancers direction. "Tea." She nodded again, and headed for the wide double doors that led to the outside world.

"Wait!" Tea called, wanting to catch up with the Egyptian. Rek stopped and stood patiently as the brunette approached.

"Yes?" Rek asked with a smile.

"How did you know about Yugi's-" Rek suddenly pushed Tea to the side as Jeanie exited the building and suddenly disappeared right before she put her left foot down on the pavement. "What?" Tea's exclaimed, looking around trying to find Miss Kelsey's favorite dancer and daughter. She was gone.

Taken.

"How did you?" Tea trailed off, looking at the Egyptian as she looked around the duo carefully. Tea looked at the new girl with fresh eyes. Rek had known to move her just in time, or else she would've been taken instead. "How did you...?" Tea asked again, shocked at the disappearance of a friend and comrade in the dance.

"There's no time right now, run!" Rek replied, grabbing Tea's hand and pulling her away from the dance studio with a vengeance. Rek started running, and Tea immediately started running too. Why, she wasn't sure, but she knew she could trust the girl running before her. As Rek led the way, Tea watched shocked as people suddenly disappeared right where she had been a moment earlier. The girl was psychic or something, and as the duo ran Rek kept making them dodge places where she knew someone would disappear. If someone touched the ground where Rek had dodged, they were suddenly Taken. Rek mad them keep running, and running, and running, until they were out of the city limits and running toward a gated home. Rek immediately jammed her finger into the call button, and like that the gates opened and Rek shoved Tea in. "Kuriboh! The barriers, hurry!" She yelled to someone, and a slight chirp was her only reply. The gates were slammed shut, and a bright green light enveloped the gated house before dimming and disappearing into nothing. Rek was leaning on her knees gasping for breath and Tea was panting on her knees from pure exhaustion.

"Rek! What have you done?" A voice demanded, and a teen a bit older than Rek's fifteen ran toward the girls'. Dressed in jeans and a hoodie he looked like a normal Domino teen, but Tea could tell from his appearance he wasn't of the Domino population. He had dark brown eyes and light brown hair, and well defined tan, and Tea could just tell he kept himself in shape. Tea tore herself away from him as Rek began speaking.

"Sen, don't be angry." Rek snapped. "This is Tea, she was with the double spirit." Rek introduced.

"Then why didn't you just bring this double spirit?" Sen demanded.

"It was not part of his destiny! You know I can sense these things, Sen, and his destiny was not of this quest, his is of another, you know I understand a person's destiny better than Mama! And you know I am not incompetent!"

"She is a simple young child, Rek!"

"And weren't we not, Sen?" Rek demanded hotly. Her brother, Sen, took a calming breath and looked toward the non Egyptian.

"Hello, welcome to our home. I hope Rek wasn't too impulsive. She enjoys getting her way." He told Tea, narrowing his eyes in his sister's direction. "I am Wenen, my sister as she has already said is Rek."

"I thought you were Sen." Tea said confused. Wenen smiled charmingly at his sister.

"'Sen' is brother in our tongue. Is that not correct, Senet?"

"I prefer Rek, Sen." She muttered in response to her brother's taunting.

"As I Wenen." Wenen replied in a voice only brothers can produce in response to irritating siblings. "But I go by Wen these days. Please, come inside...?"

"Tea." The brunette replied quickly, trying to hide a smile at the siblings taunts. For a single child, she had always wanted to fight with someone but they were always fun to watch.

"Tea, welcome to our home." Wen smiled, and gestured for her to follow him.

"Whatever you do, don't get shocked and scream at what you find inside. Some of our pets are a little..." Rek just trailed off with a shrug. Wen twirled on his sister in surprise.

"You have not told her of our duty?" He demanded.

"I wasn't sure if she needed to know, Sen! It is not my place to tell, it is yours!" Rek replied hotly.

"I believe that is my sole occupation." An older voice chuckled, and the trio whirled around to find a man in his mid twenties looking at them with mirth. Dressed in a loose black suit he took the group in with quick assessing brown eyes.

"Tea, correct?" The girl nodded. "I am Tepey Saew, and these are my children Rek Saew and Wenen Saew. We and my wife are the guardians of the battle monsters, the creatures now commonly called 'Duel Monsters'." A shriek pierced the air and suddenly Paladin of White Dragon was streaking toward the group. Tea let out a scream, but was immediately hushed. The creature landed quickly with a thud right in front of Mr. Saew. "Paladin, what of the borders? Has he breached them?" Mr. Saew asked right of the bat. The man on the white dragon's back hopped off and bowed low before Rek's father.

"He hasn't breached the grounds yet, sir. The barrier is still holding strong, and his beams cannot penetrate them yet. We are sending off some of dragons to check the whole grounds, but your three hundred acre land is hard to patrol completely, and the forest creatures are being uncooperative."

"Have you checked with the Witch of Black Forest?"

"She is in a meditative state trying to see the futures to come."

"And what of Succubus Knight?"

"Off doing what she does best." The Paladin Knight muttered.

"Off the grounds?" Mr. Saew asked alarmed.

"No sir, she still resides on this land." All three Saew's breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness for that. Please try your best, Paladin, we must return to the house to explain all our homeland protects to Tea here."

"Course sir." Paladin saluted, mounted his dragon, and rode off.

"What was that?" Tea exploded.

"That was Paladin and his White Dragon." Rek giggled. "I told you to not be surprised by what you saw."

"Tea." Mr. Saew's voice commanded, and I turned toward him. "We are the guardians of Battle Monsters, the protector of Duel Monsters. We have existed since the first Battle Monsters were played in ancient Egypt." Tea gasped in shock and looked at Rek, a teen looking about fifteen but was actually over a thousand years old. "The Egyptian gods and Our Pharaoh knew the monsters could be deadly in wicked hands, so protectors were chosen. The Protectors chosen were My wife, my daughter, my son, and myself, and given immortality and the final authority over all Battle Monsters. We have existed since the beginning."

"But the duel monsters were trapped in stones! How'd you survive if there weren't any?" Tea asked shocked.

"Three were never sealed, three that never made it into Duel Monster Cards. These three were left to guard over their sleeping siblings, and wait until each monster was reawakened. It was our job to protect them, and to protect the people who sought to use them. If these seekers were not right for the monsters, we led them away, if they were right we brought them to the stones. Only one was right, one Maximilian Pegasus. The Duel Monsters were created form him, and from that we have had our control over monsters quadrupled since then. It is our job to protect every Duel Monster, and since we began we have completed this task diligently."

"But what's going on now? Why is everyone disappearing?" Tea asked, pulling the story to the 21st century.

"Well, that is why we moved our home here to Domino. We had known of magic and spirits in this town since it began, but when an unseemly amount of people went disappearing we knew something was up. With some help from our resident hacker we were able to come up with a few theories, but to almost anyone on the outside they will seem quite unusual."

"I'm not just anybody." Tea replied crossing her arms, waiting.

"It seems the source comes from the internet itself." Wen piped in.

"From the _internet_?" Tea gasped, a whole past adventure flooding her mind. A virtual realm, the internet, and one boy who started it all. "Noah."


	3. So we're going up against Noah

"Noah can't be back, he was lost in cyberspace! _Never _to return. What- How can he- Are you sure? He- really?" Tea stammered out.

"You say lost, I say he's still kicking." Mr. Saew replied, pushing his black hair away from his face.

"Noah is not an ordinary foe, he planned for his demise just as he planned for victory. There was an escape route just in case, and the 'in case' happened." Rek said softly.

"So..._Noah_ has been doing this? How?" Tea demanded, crossing her arms. Wen sighed.

"He regrouped in cyberspace, and after accessing some information he needn't know, he created another virtual world for himself. He became lonely, that I believe, and then accessed a cyber beam he modified to bring physical objects into his virtual realm. We've been tracking his movements for months now, and he seems to be trying to recreate the real world in his cyberspace. He's tacking everybody out of the real world to brainwash them in his and then he lets them believe he is the ultimate ruler there, so everybody loves him and does as he commands. Tristan is there, and so is...Joey."

"What?" Tea demanded with a shout. "How? _When_?"

"Shortly after our dance practice." Rek sighed sadly. "I cannot tell you how sorry I am about that."

"How are we getting everyone back?" Tea demanded, bringing everyone to the most important topic up for discussion.

"'We'? Not we Tea, my family and I, you mustn't endanger yourself." Mr. Saew said gently.

"'Endanger myself'?" Tea repeated with disbelief. "My whole life it seems is about endangering myself! I've been trapped in Noah's world before! I've been brain washed, and I dealt with soul snatchers. I put myself in dangerous situations all the time! If my friends have been snatched by Noah, then by all means let me endanger myself it means I get my friends back!" Tea vented. Suddenly the three Saew burst our laughing. "This is _not _funny!" Tea yelled.

"Oh I know, Miss Tea, but it just is!" Mr. Saew laughed. "You are exactly as my wife predicted! She is like your Ishizu, she can tell the future when it involves our charges, and when Noah captured our young Magician, his business became ours." He finished darkly.

"He took one of the Duel Monsters?" Tea asked quietly.

"The youngest of the magicians." He sighed. "And we knew we couldn't let him continue. We knew the population had begun diminishing at an astonishing rate, but we attempt to avoid interfering in the Time Line unless absolutely necessary. He took one of ours, I do believe that gives us permission to fight back."

"So, what are we going to do?" Tea finally asked.

"The only way to beat Noah is to let him Take us, but we would prefer not to let that happen." Wen broke in.

"Then let me go in." Tea found herself deciding.

"Miss Tea, we won't that you do that." Mr. Saew replied, the warning in his voice apparent to the young girl.

"If that's the only way, then I need to get Taken." She insisted.

"That isn't a good idea. Especially now, no one should willingly be Taken on their own. If you went, someone must come with you for protection and back up against Noah." Mr. Saew lightly relented.

"I'll get Yugi to go with me." Tea said firmly. Rek gave a soft gasp, and Tea turned to watch Rek's eyes glaze over as her face slacked in a trance. "What-"

"Shh!" The male Saew's hushed her.

"He has been taken. We are the last defence here in Domino City." Rek's voice whispered out, and Tea felt herself go cold.

"Who's been Taken, Rek? Who?" Tea demanded shaking the Egyptian's shoulders. The girl blinked and looked at Tea with an omious emotion. "What Rek, who?"  
>"The last defense, Yugi is gone."<p>

"G-Gone? You mean he left the city?" Tea grasped hopefully. The Egyptian shook her head. "Taken?" Tea whispered quietly. Rek nodded solomnly.

"We are the last in Domino City, the rest of the population resides in Noah's world."

"We have to get him back! We have to get them all back!"

"We will try." Mr. Saew said solomnly.

"We will _not try_. We _will_ get them back, got that? And we're getting them back _today._" Tea sadi authoritatively.

"Quite the charmer, isn't she Father?" Rek giggled.

"She's got a future, that's for sure." Wen chuckled.

"This is _not _funny! We have to figure out a plan! We have to get everyone back, and now."

"We will, Miss Tea, we will. But not today I am afraid. We must get a plan decided upon, please join us at the house?" Mr. Saew invited, gesturing up the path at a huge yellow bricked mansion.

"_That's_ your _house_?" Tea asked, her jaw dropping to the floor.

"It does the job." Rek replied, and headed up toward the house. Opening the door, Rek was attacked by a girl who looked exactly like Dark Magician Girl.

"He doesn't care!" The girl was crying.

"What's wrong, MG? Who did what?" Rek tried to comfort.

"DM! He doesn't care about me! He doesn't!" MG sobbed. Rek patted the girl's back with a smypathetic face.

"He doesn't deserve you, he doesn't." Rek told the sobbing girl. "DM would be _lucky_ to have a girl like you, and if he doesn't see that then he's not for you." Looking over MG's shoulder Rek faced Tea. "Hey, MG, could you pull yourself together to say hi to our guest?" MG sniffeled and rubbed her nose and looked at Tea with red eyes.

"Hi, I'm MG, short for Dark Magician Girl. He doesn't love me!" She sobbed again, and threw herself into Tea's embrace. Over MG's sobbing Tea heard Rek shout, "She's in love with DM, The Dark Magician, and he doesn't even know that!"

"Ah." Tea nodded wisely, patting MG's back. "Hey, MG, shh, it's going to be okay, all right? How about we fix you up and set you up on a blind date with that dumb magician? We'll dress you up in a beautiful dress, do your make up, and then dumb DM won't be able to take his eyes off you, does that sound like fun?" Tea had had her share of dumbies not noticing her and her love, and if she could help a fellow idiot lover, then she would.

"That sounds like fun." MG sniffled, wiping her nose and pushing off Tea. "Okay."

"When do you want to have the blind date?" Tea asked encouragingly. MG sniffled again.

"Tonight?" She asked weakly. Tea froze. She was planning to rescue her friends tonight, but MG needed her help...but Yugi, and Joey, and Tristan were trapped in Noah's world, and she had to save them!

"Okay." Tea heard herself sigh.

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" MG squeeled, and hugged the dancer to the point Tea's ribs would crack.

"Okay! Okay! All right!"

"Oh thank you! What color should I dress in? And my lipstick, does orange lipstick go with a red dress?"

"We'll see, MG, all right?" Tea replied, shuddering at the thought of orange lipstick on the blond magician.

"Okay!" MG said cheerfully, and ran up the side spiral staircase near the end of the front hallway.

"What did I just get myself into?" Tea wondered aloud.

"You never know when it comes to MG."


	4. Getting the mages together

Tea gently applied the light blush to the magicians cheeks with a smile. Sitting in a dazzling blue and pink dress, GM smiled giddily in the mirror as the human beautician carefully put eye shadow on GM's eyelids. Tea choose green, to match the magician's eyes, and then finished with pink lipstick. Rek's house had everything from antiques to the most modern appliance possible, from 18th century clothing to the shortest mini dress one could find in the 21st century, and as the house seemed to continue on so did every room filled with everything possible, and filled with any_thing_ possible. Duel Monsters had sprung to life and walked the halls of the Saew's mansion, and finding a room full of beautiful gowns thanks to a huge stone monster Tea had returned to GM's side to finish the final touches on the giddy magician girl. Tea helped GM stand up carefully, and admired her work as her masterpiece admired herself in the mirror. Thanks to a Stone Warrior, Tea had found the most exquisite blue and pink swirled gown with glitter enhancing the magic of the dress. GM was also wearing elbow length white gloves and around her neck resided a miniature version of the magician's wand. MG grinned as she turned to face Tea.

"It's wonderful! How did you ever arrange this?" MG smiled. Tea smiled and drifted back to an hour before. After finding The Dark Magician, DM, in the attic practicing levitation while creating and throwing fire, ice, and toads at the same time she had managed to get him down to floor level while she demanded he go on a blind date with a wonderful friend of his. He wasn't smart enough to figure out who though, he went from an Ice Princess to The Pauperess and completely skipped MG his right hand girl. Things that seem the easiest to everyone, hardly end up that way. Just like on TV, you know when two people should kiss, but they never do.

MG and DM were exactly like that.

So after finding a side room and having a few of the Duel Monster Magicians set it up for a romantic dinner, even they could tell the two Dark Magicians were meant to be, DM and MG were led in from two different directions and set at the table with a smile.

"You?" DM had said surprised, and MG had just looked down and blushed. "You, um, you look nice." He tried, and MG smiled.

"Thanks." MG smiled, looking at DM shyly. Tea snapped her fingers, and thanks to a few spell cards dinner suddenly appeared in front of the two mages.

"Aw, I never thought this day would come." A young fire magician behind her sighed in contentment.

"Took long enough." Another grumbled. A fairy monster flitted toward the human with a cherubic smile.

"Thank you, Miss Tea, we've been trying to set them up since Egypt, but our DM is a little thick headed." The fairy gave a smile and waved her hands, creating a necklace that suddenly appeared around Tea's neck. "Here is a gift, young one, in case of great dire, use this jewel and the trouble won't seem as big as it once was." With another cherubic smile, the fairy drifted away, leaving Tea fingering the necklace confused. It was a red ruby, held in a star mounting. The red star glittered in the light and with a shrug she let it fall back against her skin. The date seemed to be going well, and with a knowing smirk Tea headed to find Rek or Wen. The duo were standing in a library, having it out in their native tongue. Not understanding a word they were saying, Tea knocked on the oak door startling the two out of their argument.

"Ah, Tea, can we help you?" Wen asked politely.

"Just wondering what I can do."

"There is nothing, not until Father can come up with a plan." Rek replied.

"Why can't we just let Noah get us, and once there go and beat him?" Tea sighed.

"Tea, really. Does Yugi usually just let the bad guy get him and then cream them then?" Wen asked with an arched brow.

"Um, no?"

"Then why rush this? That is not the order of things."

"But, we gotta! All my friends have been captured, my parents have been Taken already, and if Mrs. Rowlings isn't in school then there's no way for me to get an A on my science paper."

"Patience, Tea, you find patience when you live as long as we do. It is better this way, you must trust us." Rek smiled.

"Why can't we rush this!" Tea wanted to scream. No one was willing to go out on a limb to save everyone! Not even the Guardians of Duel Monsters, and one of their own was Taken too! Tea was pretty sure she was going to be fighting Noah on her own, and she was close to the point of walking out the door, getting out of the Saew home, and getting Taken herself.

She wondered how Yugi did it all the time.

"Tea, we set up a room for you. Would you like to see it?" Rek asked, grinning and trying to pull the Domino girl out of the library.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Tea laughed, and after practically running after Rek found herself outside a door with a pretty red trim and a clean white door. A shiny silver knob gleamed in the light, and one black flower had been painted on the top of the red door frame. "Is this my room?" Rek nodded and turned the handle revealing a beautiful room full of red, sliver, and white hues. A huge red king bed dominated the middle of the room, while the white walls were decorated by silver swirls with red lines separating each corner of the room from the next. A red dresser resided by the west wall with a red mirrored frame of a mirror above it, and a closet was closed on the east wall. A sliver lamp stood beside the bed, and a red writing desk took up residence by the north wall. "How cute!" Tea cheered, and went in. a huge window giving the perfect view of the front yard stood quietly above the desk, and Tea went to stare out. The moon was staring calmly down at her, and she simply smiled in response.

"There are clothes in the closet, pajamas in the dresser, and plenty of paper in case you want to write in the desk. Chao for now." And with that Rek was walking away. Heading toward the dresser Tea pulled out a beautiful silk nightgown a delicious creamy color with a pretty black lace decorating all the edges, the hem, the sleeve ends, and the edges above her breasts. The red ruby star still glittered on her neck, and Tea went to remove it. Looking at herself in the mirror, Tea could see the black rings underneath her eyes, and knew this whole Taken business was wearing her out. Looking for a clasp, Tea found none. She twirled the gold chain the ruby resided upon around, but there was no way to unlock it or take it off.

"Great, looks like we're stuck together for now." She sighed, letting it bump back against her skin. She slipped into the bed, and fell into an uneasy sleep.


	5. MG Taken

Tea woke in the middle of the night to a banging on her door.

"Wha? What time is it?" She mumbled, pushing the red covers off her and stumbling to open the door. "Low?" She muttered, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"MG's having a panic attack again, we need you to calm her down." Rek asked desperately, pushing her way into Tea's room. "Get dressed, what are you still doing asleep? Hurry up, Tea!" Rek commanded, turning the lights on and slamming the closet door open. "This will work, get dressed!" Rek ordered, throwing an outfit on the bed and leaving the room to give the half asleep girl some privacy. Tea stumbled over to the bed, muttering about annoying Egyptians, to find a beautiful peach skirt with an interlocking design of swirls and spirals decorating the peach in a darker hue and a black tank top. Not really caring, Tea threw them on and exited her room to be grabbed by Rek and hauled to the front yard. Up ahead, Tea could see MG crying by the gate, trying to push it open but being thwarted by a determined Kuriboh.

"Let me out, Kuri, there's no point of being here if he doesn't care about me! I loved him, and he just-just doesn't!"

"MG, what's wrong? What happened?" Tea gasped, jolted awake by her friends plight and immediately ran to the tragic magician. Slowly prying the mage's from the gate bars, Tea turned the girl into her embrace with soothing words. "Tell me what happened, M, weren't things going great?" Tea asked, her voice warm with sympathy and care.

"He-He- It started great, but he thought it was just some joke! He didn't-didn't real-real-" And with that MG burst into a new round of tears.

"Sh, sh, it's alright, it's okay. Sh, MG, it's going to be okay, it'll get better, okay? You just have to push through the pain to find true happiness. You never know, what if DM back there isn't your knight in shining armor?"

"Of course he's not." MG sniffled. "He's a mage, why would he wear armor? And he's no knight either, Tea, why would he be?" Tea shook her head at MG's reply.

"How could I be so silly?" Tea rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Can you tell Kuriboh to open the gate? I just want Noah to get me already, there's no point being here if DM doesn't care about me."

"MG, _never_ say that! Boys are the dumbest things in the world, you shouldn't lose your head over them. And trust me, my three best friends are _all_ boys, I know what I'm talking about. I don't want DM to have this much control over you, M. don't you want to be in control of your own life? Or do you want DM to decide everything you do?" Tea asked gently, firmness laced behind her words.

"I-I want-" She hiccuped.

"Want what?" Tea asked, trying to wipe away the blond's tears.

"I want to be in control, I- I want- not to do this- I don't want DM to c-control me- I want-want to be strong." She sniffled, rubbing her nose.

"That's right, you are strong, M. don't forget that. You shouldn't let DM destroy you like this." Tea told the girl resolutely. "How long have you had this crush on him?"

"Since before Tepey became the Guardian." She sniffled, trying to stand on her own two feet. Tea's jaw dropped at the answer. From _before_ the Saew's became guardians? How long could DM not have noticed? You can usually tell when someone's in love, and this just added to DM obliviousness. The Great Magician had some serious issues apparently, on top of being a numb skull.

"Can we go back inside now?" Tea asked, pulling herself out of her thoughts.

"Okay." MG sighed, letting Tea lead her toward the house. Running down the path, well flying down the path actually, came DM at full speed.

"I'm _so _sorry, MG! I didn't know, and I never meant to hurt your feelings, it's just that-" MG burst into tears again and ripped the miniature wand from her necklace.

"Maximize." She sobbed, and the wand grew full scale. She turned to the gate and burst a huge fireball at it, knocking it to the ground despite Kuriboh's angry chirps. Crying, MG ran through the gate, _away_ from DM.

"MG!" Tea called, and ran after her. "MG, wait! Come back!" Suddenly MG disappeared, and Tea froze as the horror of what had happened just sunk in.

MG had been Taken.

_She_ was going to be Taken.

Turning, Tea ran back toward the gate, and the safety of the Saew's barrier. Abruptly, a tingly feeling spread itself over Tea's skin and she tried to call out to Rek, or DM, or somebody, but unexpectedly she disappeared.

Taken.


	6. Bliss

Tea felt light.

The sun was shining down on the sandy beaches she was lying on, and Tea sighed in bliss as she fingered the sand beneath her. The waves lapped on the shore calmly, and the blue sky hung warmly above her. Tea sighed again in contemplation, and then frowned. She was supposed to do something, she was supposed to remember something, but what was it? The thought drifted away as a cool breeze fluttered over her, and Tea closed her blue eyes in peace. A sea gull called over the waves, and Tea slowly sat up in the warm sand, making the sand fall out of her hair and clothes quietly. Tea turned her face toward the sun and smiled. Today was perfect, the sun was shining, the sand was warm, and the water was inviting. Standing up, Tea found herself in a bikini, and with a shrug ran toward the water. Laughing, she dove in and floated on the water under her. Flipping underneath, Tea closed her eyes and let the water push her back to shore. Popping up again, the swimmer pushed back out and let the waves lap around her in quiet bliss. The sun shone peacefully from her spot in the water, and with a smile Tea flipped to her stomach and dog paddled side ways before flipping back under and jumping back out again. Laughing, Tea let the waves push her all the way back to the sand and then once again fell on the sand with a bubble of giggles escaping her lips.

She felt light.

Letting the sand pillow under her, Tea closed her eyes and fell asleep, the song of nature lulling her to sleep.

"Tea." A voice called on the wind, and Tea tightened her eyes in response. She wanted to sleep, the sand was so warm, she just wanted to drift back down and out. "Tea." The voice repeated, so charming and captivating that Tea opened her eyes to see a man standing above her. He was tall, and a bit older than her with an almost greenish colored hair and dark blue eyes. He was wearing a white suit, and had a calm charm radiating about him.

"Noah." She smiled, and quickly knelt before him. "My King, I'm honored to be in your presence." With almost girlish awe and excitement she smiled at him, and she waited to be given instructions.

"Please rise. There is no need to kneel, Tea." The King told her, and obediently she rose to stand before him. He gave her his arm, and taking it with girlish anticipation she let him stroll her down the beach.

"What brings you to this side of the kingdom, my King?" She asked with a smile, something in her mind rebuked the idea of touching her King, and she frowned trying to remember.

"I wished to see you." The King told her gently, and Tea giggled at his response.

"I'm delighted you came." She grinned, and suddenly the landscape changed. She was suddenly in a flowery meadow, and she gasped in excitement. "It's so beautiful!" She exclaimed, and ran toward the meadow. Behind her, Noah smiled in contentment as he watched one of his citizens fall in love with him. _The King was a good King, he takes care of his citizens_. Tea thought happily as she knelt to smell a wildflower. "All this is so beautiful!" She called to her King as she ran back toward him. Something was wrong, but she couldn't remember. Something was yelling at her, that her King wasn't good, that he was _evil_. She couldn't remember, there was something she was supposed to do, but what was it? Who was she supposed to help? Or if she was even supposed to help anyone, or anything. The worries quietly slipped out of her mind as she smiled in her King's radiance.

"Please, sit." He told her warmly, and with a smile she sat looking out at the warm field before her. The wind swayed the flowers back and forth, and dandelions gave up their fluff to the insistent winds. Noah sat behind her, and slowly encircled Tea in hi arms, leaning her back until her back was against his chest. Tea sighed in bliss, and closed her eyes. She was happy, she was light, she was in a paradise far from her own little world. Something clicked, and Tea's eyes snapped open.

A world far from her own.

Noah.

_King_ Noah.

Taken.

Her friends.

Her mission.

Tea remembered.

Suddenly fighting to get away from the man behind her, she pushed his arms away from her and sat up quickly.

"Let me go!" She demanded as she pushed herself to her feet and started running. She didn't make it very far, immediately Noah was in front of her.

"Where are you going?" He asked calmly.

"Away from _you_!" Tea retorted, and tried to run in the opposite direction, but he blocked her path effortlessly.

"You would have been happy, all you had to do was forget. _I _could have made you happy, Tea. You would have been happy, don't you remember?" He asked sadly. Tea's cheeks flamed. She _did_ remember, and it hadn't all been a bad experience. It had actual been the highlight of her year. She shook the thoughts out of her mind.

"No! It wasn't real, forced love is never real!" Tea told him firmly.

"And yet, all your friends are happy in their fake little worlds." Noah told her with a smug smile.

"Where are they?" Tea asked quietly.

"All over my virtual realm, Tea. After splitting Yugi and that Pharaoh into different bodies they didn't remember a thing, and so far only _you_ have been able to remember. Everyone's happier here Tea, just forget, and you'll be in blissful peace again." Noah tempted, and Tea felt her resolve falter. How could everyone be happier? This was all fake! It wasn't real! But it had been so nice, so warm! If everyone was happy, why should she rip them from it? "Tea, your friends will be quite displeased if you take them from this place. Here, they are in ultimate enjoyment. Back in your world they had to scrape and scrimp to get by. Here, they are in bliss. They are in perfectly tailored worlds made to their exact happiness. Yours was the beach, and if you had gone to the house behind you you would have found a dance studio with an audience ready to oo and awe over your moves, you would have been famous. Just forget, everything will be perfect that way." Tea shook her head trying to decided. Her friends would be mad at her for taking them away from this place? No they couldn't, they would understand!

Wouldn't they?

"Stay here, Tea, forget. Everything will be perfect again." Noah's voice tempted, and she looked into his blue eyes to find the truth. She saw he was right, that he would honestly make her feel blissful, but this was still a prison, no matter how golden the cage was.

"I'm getting out of here." She decided, taking steps away from the King of the Virtual Realm.

"So sorry you feel that way, and how do you plan on doing that?" He asked, his face filling with sorrow.

"You'll let me leave this place." Tea said firmly. Noah started laughing.

"As if I would do a thing like that! You want to get your friends back? You go find them." With that pronouncement made, Noah dissolved and the grassy land beneath her turned into hard rocks and the flowers became angry crashing waves. Lightning cracked the sky and Tea let out a scream in fright. Caves loomed about her and Tea started running. "Keep going little Tea! You'll never find your friends!" Noah's voice cackled in the thunder and Tea just squared her jaw and kept running. "Good luck, my dear! You'll need it!" Tea kept running she would find her friends, she'd brake them free, and afterwords she'd go to a non Noah created beach and relax.


	7. MG

Tea kept running.

And running.

The rocky shore seemed to be never ending, and it probably was too. Skidding to a halt, Tea turned away from the water as it came crashing at her with a roar, and thunder rumbled ominously. Lightning illuminated the darkening sky, and Tea knew she had to keep going. But this time she started up, away from the shore, and hopefully toward a beach house with someone in it. But at the rise between beach and land there were no houses, just long stretches of green plains.

"What?" She whispered, turning backward to find the ocean and the roaring lightning was gone.

"Welcome to the outskirts, and the place of the first of your many friends." Noah's voice whispered, and Tea twirled around trying to find him. "Oh, don't worry about me. I'll only interfere when I want to, so good luck little Tea!"

"Who's here, Noah?" Tea demanded.

"Oh, would that be any fun? You'll figure it out." Noah's voice laughed, and then disappeared.

"Just great." She sighed, and started walking forward.

"Tea!" A bubbly voice called, and with a start Tea saw MG flying toward her, DM a pace behind her.

"MG!" Tea shouted back happily.

"Oh Tea, isn't today wonderful? King Noah has kept everything wonderful out here, and he even got me and DM together." MG smiled, and Tea's smile slowly deserted her face. MG was under Noah's spell, she thought he was a good guy, a good _King_. That just wasn't right.

"Listen, we gotta get out of here, we have to get back to Earth." Tea said urgently, trying to tug MG away from DM. "And when did DM get pulled into this virtual nightmare?"

"Nightmare? Are you all right, Tea? This is paradise, not a nightmare. And DM has always been here, just as we have always been here." MG told her curiously.

"No, MG, _no_, this is anything but paradise. This is a trap! This isn't real!" Tea said, shaking the magician's shoulders.

"What is _wrong_ with you? This is paradise, this isn't a trap! Why would you even think that?" MG demanded, ripping herself away from Tea.

"Think hard MG, think back to earlier. Do you even remember Rek or Wen? Mr. Saew? Don't you remember DM's idiocy? You were trying so hard to get his attention, and you ran outside the barrier and were Taken. Why can't you remember?" Tea explained in a rush.

"I-I don't understand what you're saying! We have always been here, haven't we DM?" But Tea could see a hint of remembrance flood the magician's eyes, and Tea knew she had to keep pushing.

"No, we have _never_ be here. DM does not love you, and he never _has_."

"Yes he does! He loves me with all his heart!" MG yelled at her, and Tea smiled in response. In one of her science classes, Tea had learned anger can help stimulate memories once forgotten, and she was hoping that MG was mad enough to remember what she was going to say.

"No, he doesn't. You let me set you and DM up on a date, and he thought it was all a joke. You ran away from him, and then you were Taken." I said quietly, but as firm as I could.

"I-I-" MG struggled as the real truth and Noah's truth competed in her head, and Tea hoped beyond hope that the real truth would prevail. "Tea?" MG asked confused.

"This is a _cage_, this is all fake." Tea whispered as MG sank to her knees. "_Remember_, MG, remember, please M. You gotta remember."

"I-I think I remember. Mr. Saew,...he was my...guardian. Yeah! And Rek and Wen were his children, and I was hopelessly in love with DM, but he didn't see me the way I saw him." Turning her head, MG turned to look at the love stricken DM behind her. "Do we have to go? This place...it's wonderful." She whispered.

"I know, M. I know." Tea whispered, helping MG stand up slowly. "But we have to, we don't belong here." Lightning rocked over the meadow, and suddenly Noah was standing before them.

"_You_." He hissed. "You think you can make them all remember? Not everyone is a muddled as the Little Magician Girl right here. You won't be able to convince the others, and now you'll pay." Noah laughed maniacally, and snapped his fingers.

"Tea!" MG cried, and she disappeared.

"MG! What did you do to her?" Tea demanded, looking at the man in front of her like he was Domino's most hated citizen.

"Oh, I took her home. Isn't that what you wanted?" Noah replied, and started walking away.

"Home? What do you mean home?" Tea demanded in a small voice.

"Oh, the _real_ world as you call it."

"You let her go." Tea realized.

"Hm, it made you happy. Now good luck on the others, because I can promise I won't be letting the others escape my grasp just as easily."

"I'll get them all, you just wait Noah. Once I get all my friends back together we'll make you pay." Tea promised.

"Oh, _I'll _pay? I doubt that, I control the game here, not silly little you. Good luck, but riddle me this:

The next in line

To be lost or find

Follow the road to a silly little city.

Where humblance abides, and cards are many,

Will the next child reside."

"That doesn't even rhyme!" Tea retorted.

"I control the game, Tea. Let's just see how you fare then." With a wave Noah was gone, but a long winding road rose up in his place.

"Just great, really just great." Tea muttered and started for the road.

"Tea." A dark voice rumbled behind her, and turning Tea found DM with dark red eyes and a staff pointing in her direction. Not to mention it was glowing, and static was shooting off it.

"Oh no." She whispered, and started running. DM was right on her trail, and the lightning shots coming right at her didn't really help her situation. "Leave me alone! What did I do?" Tea yelled as she dodged behind a tree to avoid becoming crispy. Tea bacon wasn't good bacon. She thought as she ran. DM suddenly stopped, and let his wand drop down to his side. With narrowed eyes, he watched her flee and then melted back into the trees. Tea didn't really care why he stopped, but she wasn't stopping. And she didn't want to go back and find out, so saying thank you over and over in gratitude she kept going.


	8. Yugi

Tea continued on the road for a long time, and eventually the road started leading into civilization. Buildings started cropping up and Tea found herself in a city, but where that city was was still up in the air. With Noah changing the land every five seconds Tea wondered if she'd even get into the city before Noah sent her back to the rocky shores of the ocean to start all over again. Noah was either being patronizing or just mysterious but Tea got into the city without being sent back to the beginning.

Tea almost forgot she was in a virtual world.

Noah had virtualized every aspect of Domino City, from the shops to the stores to the people walking by her. People were laughing and talking and no one seemed to be getting angry at or about anything. Kinda shocked, Tea started walking forward. She was in the upper end of town, and staying on the side walk Tea passed the rich snobby girl who she attended school with and tried not to gape as she said hello to her. There was no trash floating on the almost non existent breeze, and the road was completely clean of trash. Nobody was dropping wrappers, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and not seeming to realize something had to be amiss. Continuing on Tea passed school, waving to teachers she hadn't seen since before the Taken started. Pressing forward, Tea stopped at a coffee shop and was pleasantly surprised when the owner stopped her to give her a free chocolate beverage.

"On the house Miss, would you like to come inside to drink it?" She was asked sociably. Smiling and nodding her thanks, Tea stepped inside the warm little shop. She almost dropped her mug when she saw a stone warrior conversing heatedly with a junior at Domino's other high school. How could a stone warrior be in here? She wondered taking a seat. Sipping her drink delicately Tea started thinking which of her friends Noah had rhymed terribly about. It wasn't Joey, he didn't have 'Humblance abides'. It could be Tristan, but Tea didn't think this would be his dream world. That left Yugi, and a half dozen other people Tea considered friends. There was Mai and Duke, Rebecca, Ishizu and Tea guessed she had an uneasy alliance with Marik, Kaiba on a good day, especially Mokuba, and that wasn't even counting everyone! How many did she have to save anyway? And where would they be? Tea was afraid she'd been set up on an impossible task. _The heart of the cards better work with me here. _Tea thought darkly. A third of those Taken were duel monsters, and if all the monsters weren't in the deck, did that automatically shoot even having hope in the heart of the cards? Tea sipped another sip from her cup, and let her hands collect the warmth her drink was radiating.

"Hello Tea!" A bright voice said and Tea's eyes snapped up to find Mokuba sitting across from her.

"Oh hey, Mokuba. What are you doing here?" Tea asked surprised.

"What am _I_ doing here? Don't you mean what are _you_ doing here? You're supposed to be having a date with Seto!" Mokuba told her with a parental reprove in his voice.

"I have a _what_?" She sputtered, spitting out the beverage in her mouth.

"What do you mean, 'What?', you have a date! You need to get going! You're supposed to meet Seto at the park, get going! Now!" Mokuba urged, and pulled her out of her seat and dragged her out the door. "You don't know what a world of good you're doing for Seto, he called me 'Mokie' yesterday! He hasn't called me that in a long time, and I just can't thank you enough!"

"Yes but-"

"And you don't know what kind of impact your having over at the company. Seto's lightening up a little bit and the workers decided to stop their strike! And Kiaba Corp isn't going bankrupt anymore, and it's all because you you! Once you gave Seto a reason to live again everything got better, you don't know how this is working out in Yugi's favor. The two aren't friends yet, but they're getting there and it's all thanks to you and I just can't tell you how much I appreciate it!"

"That's nice but-"

"Hurry up! The park's around the corner, I'll see you at home tonight!" Mokuba called, and ran off leaving me with no other options but to head toward the impending date with Seto Kaiba. I walked into the green grassy field that was the park and found Seto setting up a picnic a ways back on one of the nature trails.

"Beautiful, how are you?" He asked with a smile, something that Tea was shocked from. Seto Kaiba actually _smiled_. Okay, this was the weirdest world yet, and she'd only been to three! He stood up and walked over to her, and taking her face gently in his hands he kissed her, and Tea tried not to pull back in shock. Still smiling, Kaiba broke the kiss and taking her hand gently lead her to the picnic he'd prepared. "So how are you, my dearest? Do you like the picnic?"

"It's so...thoughtful. Today's been kind of weird, actually. I was supposed to be finding someone who had 'humblance abides' but I found you instead." Tea said distractedly.

"So sorry dearest, let me make it better." He smiled and gave her a long kiss before breaking it to open the basket filled with food. Tea was trying not to panic. She was on a _date_ with Seto Kaiba, and she had been kissed _twice_ by Seto Kaiba, she was really not trying to freak out. Kaiba delicately fed her a strawberry, and she had to return the favor. Trying to find an excuse to get away from all this weirdness, Tea told Kaiba that she had a dance rehearsal she had to get to. "Since when did you take dance?" He asked confused, and Tea's mind reeled in shock. A world where she _didn't dance_? That was the worse kind of torment possible.

"I started last week, Kaiba, remember I was telling you about it?" Tea prompted gently.

"No, I don't." He replied, suspicion forming in his eyes.

"Oh well, it must have slipped your mind. I need to go though, see you later?" She lied standing up.

"All right." Kaiba replied, and pecking him quickly on the cheek she started running toward the entrance of the park and straight on through. She didn't know where she was running, but eventually she found herself in front of the game shop and burst in.

"Ah Tea, how good to see you!" Mr. Muto's warm voice called and Tea found the older man cleaning one of the glass cases.

"Hey Mr. Muto, how are you?" She smiled heading toward him.

"In bright spirits and you young lady?" The older Muto grinned and Tea felt all her worries ebb away.

"Recovering from a date with _Seto Kaiba_." She shuddered and watched Mr. Muto frown

"I thought you two were getting along these days." He asked, pausing mid stroke on the glass.

"Not everything's etched in stone thankfully." Tea sighed.

"Isn't it?" Mr. Muto's almost inaudible reply said.

"Is Yugi around?" Tea asked, looking toward the stairs.

"Yes, go right on up. He's finishing his homework."

"Thanks Mr. Muto!" She smiled and headed on upstairs. "Yugi?" Tea called as she entered.

"Here!" Her friend's reply came out, and Tea found the dueling champ lost behind a pile of books. "Hey, Tea, how's it going?" He asked looking up at her.

"Fine, and yourself?" She asked, thinking something was a little out of the ordinary.

"All's well, I finished the book I was writing, _Dueling for Dummies_, and I sent it out to a publisher this morning." The blond smiled.

"I didn't know you were writing a book!" Tea smiled.

"Yes you did, you helped me with it last week." Yugi said confused.

"Yeah, of course. The Pharaoh been helping you too?"

"Who?" And _that_ was why the world was off here. Tea realized the missing piece, Yugi had no gold pyramid around his neck, nothing related to Ancient Egypt on him what so ever. The missing piece of the puzzle, _was_ the puzzle.

"Yugi, where is the millennium item?" Tea asked slowly.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh no." She sighed. This was bad, really really bad. Yugi didn't have the puzzle, which meant when Noah had said he'd split them up he had actually _split_ them up. Not only was she going to have to convince Yugi he was living in a virtual world, she was going to have to convince the pharaoh in Ancient Egypt of that too. And if a king's been locked inside a puzzle for a few thousand years, then an ideal world was going to be one where you're ruling and have your own body back.

Just great.

That meant guards, a prison sentence if she couldn't convince the Pharaoh, and in all cases of Kings and Pharaohs, she would be dealing with an arrogant jerk. This just couldn't get better. And then Tea had to wonder, whose ideal world was she in? And why was it ideal?

"This is Yugi's personal place." Noah's voice whispered, and Tea whipped around to find him. He wasn't there, it was just his voice, and Yugi was looking at her like she was crazy. He can't hear Noah. Tea realized with a groan. "Correct Tea. This is Yugi's personal realm, care to figure out why?" Noah's voice chuckled, and Tea started wondering how a world without the Pharaoh was ideal for Yugi. Things had gotten better for him after the Pharaoh appeared, so why was not having him a good thing? She was drawing a blank.

"So, do you want to study? I have to prepare for a trig test tomorrow." Yugi asked, snapping Tea out of her thoughts. She had to figure out why this was an ideal world, most importantly why Yugi's perfect world involved her dating _Seto Kiaba_,and she had to crush it to smithereens.

"Sure." She replied warily, and sat across from Yugi. He handed her one of his books and Tea started quizzing him. He was actually really smart at this stuff, smarter than Tea had ever realized. That was probably because when she thought of Yugi, she thought of him dueling with The Pharaoh. Technically, her first thoughts were The Pharaoh dueling, since he was the one who fought all the battles really. Her first thoughts about Yugi weren't even about _him_! She hadn't even known Yugi was this smart, she always thought about him as the King of Dueling. Asking another trig question, Tea wondered if that was part of his perfect world, and then things started clicking.

A world where he was accepted for who he really was, not just the King of Games because the truth was it was The Pharaoh who really was the King of Games, not him. A place where no one thought of him and The Pharaoh as the same person, where he was as individual as everyone else, with his own body and his own soul.

"You _are _your own person." Tea suddenly said, snapping Yugi out a mini study.

"Excuse me?"

"You _are _your own person Yugi, and having The Pharaoh didn't change that. Sure you had to share a body, but you had a best friend through that. The Pharaoh didn't make you less individual, he added a unique perspective to your way of life."

"What are you _talking_ about?" Yugi asked, his face contorted in confusion. "Are you all right? Do you need some water?" He asked, feeling her forehead in concern.

"I'm _fine_, it's you who isn't!" Tea snapped, pushing his hand away and standing up to pace. "How can you not remember The Pharaoh? Do you still remember Duelist Kingdom? Or the Battle City?"

"Um, I think Mr. Pegasus won the Duelist Kingdom tournament and this guy Marik won Battle City, the world almost ended until his sister had to banish him to the shadow realm." Yugi thought aloud.

"_WHAT_?" Tea shouted. "_You_ won Duelist Kingdom Yugi! _And _Battle City! You were trying to rescue your grandpa's soul from Pegasus, don't you remember?"

"Grandpa's soul? What are you talking about?" He asked confused. "Tea, it's obvious you hit your head, you need to sit down." Yugi prompted, leading Tea toward a sofa.

"No! You don't get it! This is all fake! Don't you remember Noah?" Tea wanted to cry. He wasn't going to remember, ever. Sniffling, Tea thought how she might be able to break through. Memories were the only way in this virtual realm, Tea thought darkly. That's how she'd broken free, that's how she'd gotten through to MG, and that's how she'd break through to Yugi. But what would be the one memory that could crack Yugi wide open and he'd remember? He couldn't remember The Pharaoh, so anything related to him or dueling was out of the question. Tea was pretty sure Yugi in his perfect world didn't even duel. She had to find a memory, just one memory that could save him. "Hey, have you heard from Tristan or Joey? They weren't in school yesterday." Tea began conversationally.

"Who? Oh you mean those two bullies." Yugi replied instead. "I'm glad they weren't in school, they always try to hit me for no good reason." Tea wanted to gasp. In this world, Yugi didn't even know Tristan or Joey. What was left? His Grandpa, and her.

"Hey, do you remember when your Grandpa showed you that Blues Eyes White Dragon of his?" Tea tried again.

"Sorta, why?" He asked, looking at her curiously.

"Tell me the story, from the beginning to end." Tea demanded, and sat still to listen. Yugi started from the beginning, Grandpa had just shown him the card, and Yugi went on to remember slowly how Kiaba had come trying to buy the card off Mr. Muto.

"When he refused, Kiaba challenged Grandpa to a duel." He remembered, and his brow became furrowed as he tried to remember the ensuing duel. Of course this was going to be the hard part, Tea thought slightly afraid, this was where The Pharaoh came in. "Grandpa was thrown from the dueling platform, and I-I-I did something." He concentrated, trying to remember. Tea wanted to tell him, he had told her so many times, but if Yugi was going to break free of Noah's mind control then it had to be on his own. "I-I think I dueled." He whispered wonderingly, and then frowned. "No, not me, someone who looked like me, but it _was_ me at the same time."

"Yes?" Tea prompted hopefully.

"Kiaba ripped up Grandpa's Blue Eyes!" Yugi remembered shocked, and with wide eyes he gasped, and he stood up looked down at Tea with a gaping mouth and huge wide eyes. "That other someone _was_ me! Well, not _me_, me but it was me! It was- it was-" He stood stock still as he tried to remember, and Tea knew something was breaking through.

"Who won Duelist's Kingdom?" She whispered. Yugi's brow furrowed in confusion, and something clicked. He struggled with the truth for a moment, and his mind tried to fight to find the real truth.

"I-I did." He whispered. "No, someone was with me though."

"Who?" Tea whispered encouragingly.

"I-I don't remember." He sighed.

"Oh, you do. You just don't want to remember." Tea taunted, hoping making him mad would work like it did with MG.

"Of course I do!" Yugi snapped, jumping to pace the room. "There's this whole other part of my mind I didn't even know about! Memories that shouldn't be _real_."

"But it is." Tea said quietly. "_This _world is a fake, nothing from here is real. If you _really_ want to remember who you duel as, then I guess you should start thinking." Tea said sarcastically.

"I _am_ thinking Tea!" Yugi shouted. "I can't remember!"

"Can't or won't?" Tea demanded. Yugi struggled with himself, and Tea knew she had to up it. "I thought a s much, you're just a weak, _pathetic_ excuse for a Muto, Yugi. See ya, hope you rememba." Tea scoffed, and stood up.

"Why are you doing this?" Yugi demanded, getting furious.

"Who's body did you share?" Tea demanded, wheeling to face him. His face blanked, and Tea knew he wasn't going to remember. "Why can't you remember the truth? That was what you fought for, the side of _good_, to help people. You aren't helping anyone here, Yugi, this place isn't real, none of it is. Everything you do here has no real effect. No one will care about that book of yours, no one will care about _you_. People don't trust a leader who doesn't even know the truth, I can't believe you Yugi. Don't you remember 'The Heart of the Card'?" She quoted.

"Grandpa's saying." Yugi whispered.

"Don't you remember the symbol I drew on all of our hands at Duelist Kingdom? Can't you remember Tristan or Joey? Can't you remember?" She cried. Yugi looked at her as war raged behind his eyes. Things were clicking, and then not, and everything Tea was saying made some bit of sense, but then Yugi was thinking of having her committed. "I don't know why _I _remembered when you can't. You always saved the day, I don't know how I'm going to without your help. I'm just the cheerleader after all, _you_ were always the hero. I-I don't know what I'm going to do, but I _am_ going to save these people." Steeling her resolve and blowing air out with a farewell nod Tea headed for the door to the stairway. At the stairs she turned back to look once more in the Muto house. "Bye, Yugi, I really hope you remember someday." She whispered, and slowly slipped down the stairs.


	9. The Boys

Tea left the stairs and ran into Mr. Muto, who was so startled by her reappearance that he dropped the box he was carrying.

"Oh! I'm so sorry Mr. Muto, let me help you." Tea said quickly and bent down to pick up the box.

"Oh, it's fine, perfectly fine. You just sent me for a loop is all. How did the studying go? Yugi's trying to make the highest GPA in his grade so I really must thank you for helping him." Mr. Muto smiled as he took the box from Tea.

"I tried." She sighed, he still didn't remember though.

"Well, must say thanks my dear, now I have to get this box upstairs so I'll see you later then." He said cheerfully and went up the stairs and out of her sight. Tea turned toward the entrance and started walking, passing a picture of them from a few years ago. Tea remembered it, she had an exact copy at home, but hers wasn't missing the essential thing that made a huge part of Yugi's life: The Puzzle. The Muto's copy didn't have Yugi wearing an almost finished millennium puzzle, while her's did. _Noah even changed the pictures_. Tea thought grimly as she exited the store.

"So sad, to bad. It looks like I win this round." Noah's voice taunted, and Tea turned to find Noah exited the game shop.

"You're cruel." Was her simple reply.

"Oh, poor little Tea, you didn't get what you wanted, to bad. Live with it. I am the ruler here, and I will get what I want, is that understood dear little Tea?" He demanded, and Tea just squared her jaw and glared him.

"You can't control memories, I can unlock them and free everyone." She told him stubbornly.

"Oh can you? Then why does that little Yugi not remember? And not remembering Joey or Tristan, such a shame."

"This can't be Yugi's perfect world, it can't! His perfect world would have all his friends, and this one doesn't!" Tea declared stubbornly.

"I never said his perfect world would have all his friends, did I?" Noah asked calmly, picking a flower from the ground and smelling it lazily.

"No, I guess not." Tea said slowly.

"This world," He proclaimed gesturing to everything around them. "was created for Yugi to be himself, a world where Yugi would be accepted as Yugi, no one would ever think of both him and that Pharaoh in the same sentence. Because of _that_, my dear child, caused a rift in everything else. Without the Pharaoh and attempting the completion of the puzzle Yugi would never have become friends with either Joey or Tristan, and the subsequent friendship that followed. Tea, _everything_ is connected here. And back on your world too. One things causes the next, or doing nothing may cause the next action. Yugi's Grandpa goes to Egypt, Grandpa finds puzzle pieces, Grandpa brings the pieces back, Yugi attempts to complete the puzzle, meets both Tristan and Joey, becomes friends with them, and saves the world. Yugi did not want The Pharaoh here, so none of the things on your world happened, this time, Grandpa went to the Bahamas, brought back a T-shirt." He smiled charmingly. "Thereby stopping everything that lead to The Pharaoh and Yugi becoming intertwined." Tea looked at him shocked, could that have really happened? That could explain why Yugi was having such a hard time remembering, it had never happened here. "And now, will you forsake little Yugi in attempt to save the next?"

"I-I guess so." Tea nodded. "But not forever, I reminded him of the truth, but only he can accept them."

"Wonderful! And now to the next:

Wars and Gangs hold these next two kings,

join the backstreets and find the leaders of both North and South,

once best friends, now not so much,

find or else the roads will bleed.

One will stand, the border's edge, or else fall into ruin."

"At least you're getting better." Tea sighed.

"Good luck." He sing songed and walked away.

"Okay, I need to get to the backstreets." Tea thought aloud. The backstreets of Domino were the poor sections, the places with the gangs and turf wars, so she needed to hit the outskirts of Domino, and enter another 'perfect' world. But which of her friends would be Gang Kings? Deciding she'd find out when she got there, Tea started for the back streets, almost afraid what would happen if 'the roads will bleed'. _That better be a metaphor Noah!_ She thought as she headed along a side road that led to the edges of the city. Soon, bright cheery shops turned to dark ominous ones and Tea started getting a little unnerved. Shouts and cat calls started coming her way, and Tea picked up her pace.

"What are you doing here, little lady?" a voice asked and Tea turned to find a guy twice her size with piercings and tattoos covering his face and body.

"Um, just looking for someone." Tea hedged trying to draw away from him.

"Well, you found me so why don't we just go somewhere a little more private?" He asked, and tried to pull her toward a shady looking building.

"Uh, no thanks." Tea said, trying to get away. "I said no!" She snapped as she stomped on his foot. He cursed and Tea knew she had just found herself in a heap of trouble.

"Why you ungrateful little-"

"Don't you dare." Tea warned, she never liked curses, they were just so uck.

"Why? Does the little baby girl not like the big people words. Just shut it and come with me." He warned, and grabbing Tea in an iron grasp he started dragging her toward the building.

"No, stop! Let me _go_! Help me! Somebody! Yugi! Joey! Tristan! Help!" She screamed, but remembered that in this world she hadn't met either Joey or Tristan. Oh, just great.

"Let. The girl. Go." Someone ground out, and she was immediately flinged aside.

"Course, boss, whatever you say. First pick is always yours I get it." The thug stammered and started slinking away as fast as he could.

"Why that little creep." Tea's savior said. "And who are _you_?" He demanded. Stepping into the light Tea could tell her rescuer had dirty blonde hair, a duel disk on his arm, and a glare in his eyes.

"Joey? Joey!" She cried, and ran to hug him. He immediately stiffened.

"Do I know you?" He repeated. Tea drew back slowly. She had forgotten, he didn't know her, they weren't friends in his perfect world. Tea wondered how Noah had twisted each person into such selfish creatures. Yugi wanted to be accepted as he was, and so The Pharaoh was cast aside thereby blocking interaction between Joey or Tristan, or any other duelist and cutting out what made Yugi powerful. In this world, whatever made Joey's little world perfect ordered the cast out of Yugi, and consequently her too. All these little truths, cast out and away from one selfish wish. Good things came from something previously unwanted, if it wasn't for The Pharaoh Yugi would never have saved the world, and if it wasn't for Yugi Joey and Tristan never would have become key players for the side of good, they would have continued down the dark side never to see the light. Tea sighed and stepped away from him.

"Technically, no, but in reality yes." Tea told him, looking around them for a clue to breaking this new reality.

"I don't like riddles." Joey snapped, and crossed his arms waiting for a better explanation.

"We've met, just not in _this_ world. Here, this is all fake, it's a trap set by Noah. In _my _world, we're best friends."

"You're crazy lady." Joey replied. "I don't got time listening to you lunatics. I got a war to win."

"War? What war?" Tea asked eagerly. Maybe that was part of his perfect world.

"This dude on the North side started raising an army against us in the South. Now I've got a wannabe King ruling my turf and I have to show him whose boss."

"Who?" Tea asked.

"This dude named Tristan."

"You're at war with _Tristan_?" Tea shouted shocked. "He's your best friend! You used to beat people up together! What do you mean you're at war with Tristan?"

"My best _friend_? You gotta be joking lady. He's my worst nightmare right now. I'm trying to acquire a nice piece of land and he's standing in my way so he's going down, down, down, _down_."

"WHAT?" Tea shouted. How could this be a perfect world for Joey? Tristan was his _best_ friend, almost more important than Yugi but still up there. A world where they were at odds? That was going to be a tough one to crack, trying to get someone as thick headed as Joey to remember he was best friends with his sworn enemy. "Oh just great, just _great_."

"Jeez lady, have you lived under a rock for the past five years? I am the King of the Backstreets, and now there's a rookie trying to throw me out. I don't take kindly to idiots thinking they can beat me. And ever since Duel Monsters kept coming to life, my throne's been secure. But it seems this idiot over in the North has monsters coming alive for him too and I am none to pleased. I am going to destroy him, and make everyone come to fear my name. And since you think you know so much, you're coming with me."

"Excuse me?" Tea demanded, and Joey grabbed her arm and started pulling her. "Hey! Stop it!" She shouted, trying to pull away.

"No one tells me no, got that?" Joey warned, something entering his eyes that Tea was instantly afraid off.

"_I'm _telling you no, and I _have_ been telling you no for the past five years. I don't care if you're the 'King of the Backstreets', you're still an amateur duelist in my book. You're Joey Wheeler, Duke won a bet and put you in a puppy dog suit. You do not scare me, Joey, and I don't care what you tell me but this world isn't real, and in my world Tristan is your best friend and you went to Duelist Kingdom and came in second. Here, you're nothing but a thug." She told him coldly, covering her fear with rising anger.

"Yo, _King _of the Backstreets." A voice yelled, and the duo turned to find Tristan standing against them with a mob behind him. Tea stomped over to Tristan. "_He _is your best friend. You have always been friends, and no about of war here in the Backstreets will change that."

"What is she _talking_ about?" Tristan demanded, his plans for Backstreet domination taking a backseat after hearing the wacko say he was _best friends_ with Joey Wheeler. "Did she hit her head or something?" He asked, sudden memories popping into his head of him and the evil Joey Wheeler eating fries and laughing together. He shook them off.

"I don't get it either, but if you cross that line you're entering my turf, and I will not let you leave with a gift basket." Joey warned, and Tea marched to the nonexistent border between the two turfs.

"You two are _not _fightingeach other." Tea proclaimed. "Let me try to prove what I'm saying. If I can't, if you don't remember or believe, then you can always remember me as that crazy girl." Tea negotiated.

"I've got time before I crush the little pest." Joey nodded, and marched to the edge of his side of the line.

"I'm not going to be shown up by _him_." Tristan glared, and came to the edge of his side of the line. Tea wondered briefly if it was fate that she'd found herself at the exact edge of the Backstreets, but she had some diplomacy to work on between the two 'Kings'.

"Joey, say hello to Tristan. Tristan, say hey to Joey." She began.

"What?" They both demanded.

"Well excuse me, it's customary between two kings. You _are_ kings right?" She asked sociably.

"Course!" They shouted together, then glared in each other's direction.

"Great, then say hello." She prompted, and glaring at each other they both muttered and ground out 'Hello'. "See, was that so hard? Now, I want you both to think back. Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, Noah!"

"So?" Joey asked confused. If he remembered correctly, Pegasus had won his own tournament, and Marik had almost destroyed the world when he won Battle City, and who was Noah?

"_You_ were in Duelist Kingdom, Joey! And Tristan and I came along too, remember Tristan?"

"Nope." Tristan shook his head, wondering where he could get her committed. Things started flashing through his mind, there was a big castle, and some guy with weird blond, purple, and black hair. He thought he knew the dude, but he couldn't be sure.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Tea wanted to scream. How could she remind them of their friendship? How? "Joey, at Duelist Kingdom you beat a weasel of a kid named Rex. You won a card off him, it was a rare card. What was it?" Tea prompted gently. She saw something flash through the blond's eyes, but then it faded and Joey shook his head.

"Never battled anyone named Rex."

Tea wanted to pull out her hair. She knew this would be hard, but the fact that they kept focusing on the enemy across from them wasn't helping her in her quest to save the day. Of course, with no one remembering she was possibly thinking she was going to fail. How did Yugi do it all the time? She wondered getting angry. It was just something someone had or didn't have, and apparently she didn't have whatever it was. All she had was friendship. Wait a second, _Friendship_. She suddenly knew a way to prove they had once all been together, that they had stood on the same side once and had been a group of friends, not two different Backstreet Kings intent on killing each other.

"Hold out your hands." She ordered, and the two looked at her like she was crazy. "Hold out your hands." She ordered again, and had to forcibly grab the two arms to draw the hands together. "Once we were all at Duelist Kingdom, and while there I drew a symbol on all our hands. It won't be complete since Yugi isn't here, but _we're_ together, and this better work." She said, and drew upon what mystical magical energy she had picked up over the years working with millennium items, duel monsters coming to life, and just creepy Egyptian things that didn't naturally happen. She had made the symbols appear before, and she was hoping it would again. She closed her eyes and concentrated.

"Whatcha doin, lady?" Joey demanded, and tried to pull his hand away. He found he couldn't.

"What kinda witch thing is this?" Tristan demanded trying to pull away too, but found he was stuck touching _Joey Wheeler_. Tea's hair flew back from her face, and she felt something pulse inside her. Joey and Tristan watched shocked as a symbol began to appear on their hands. The crazy girl's word echoed in their heads, and they started remembering. _I drew something on our hands at Duelist Kingdom, I drew it to remind everyone we were friends, a group of friends who would stand beside each other forever. No matter where we end up, we would always be connected. It symbolized that no matter how different we were, we were still connected. I drew it- _Tea thought, but was interrupted by another voice in her head.

"_To connect us. To remind each other that they were never alone." _Joey and Tristan's voices mingled in her head, and she found them staring at her as their hands glowed with the symbol that had vanished long ago, but the meaning was eternal. The two seemed to be remembering everything, and slowly Tea's hair fell back against her head with a soft thud, and the glow intensified.

"We're friends, forever." She told them. They smiled, and the world dissolved around them. 


	10. Not Great Explanations

Yugi couldn't concentrate.

He was remembering things, things that shouldn't be _real_. All these memories, or fake dreams, or whatever, they were coming back faster and faster, and Yugi didn't get it one bit. There was Tea being held hostage under a metal crate, one where he was staring at a huge stone tablet that had an etching that looked something like him on it, and one weird one where he was looking at an exact replica of himself, except it was no reflection and no mirror trick. Yugi thought he was loosing it, but Tea's proclamation of this world being fake kept coming back, and Yugi was starting to doubt his sanity.

He didn't get it, not one bit.

Yugi set his trig book down and sighed. He wasn't going to be able to study, not until he figured out what was going on. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus on one particular memory Yugi knew couldn't be real. He had been dueling, which was the first indicator because Yugi never dueled, and his soul had been sucked out. Second indicator it was fake, he was in his own body, and he had his own soul. Yugi frowned trying to remember more of the details. He hadn't been taken on purpose, that thought suddenly shot to the forefront of his mind. He had been shoving someone out of the way, someone he trusted, but for the life of him Yugi couldn't remember. He had pushed someone aside, someone whose soul had been wanted, it wasn't his that was supposed to be stolen, and instead of the intended soul being taken it was his. Who had he been trying to save? Yugi thought, concentrating on the false memory. Someone he had considered a friend, a _best_ friend almost. But Yugi just couldn't remember, he wasn't sure if he'd ever remember. Picking up the study notes Tea had quizzed him on, Yugi grabbed them to try to concentrate on something else. Doodled in the left hand corner of his paper was a pyramid, one with an Egyptian eye in the middle. He knew that symbol! Yugi realized urgently, sensing this was a key to remembering, remembering whatever it was he'd forgotten. He knew that pyramid too, he knew it! But he couldn't remember where! Focusing on the Ancient Egyptian symbol, things clicked, and then disconnected. Why couldn't he remember? Yugi demanded of himself. He started to remember, but then it was like someone erased whatever he had suddenly remembered. Blowing out steam, Yugi focused, and this time he had to remember.

33333

The wind whipped up and Tea had to hold onto both Tristan and Joey so she wouldn't fly away.

"What's goin' on here?" Joey asked, looking around him wildly.

"This ain't normal, right Tea?" Tristan yelled over the wind.

"I bet it's Noah. Noah! Get out here! I won, get over it!" She yelled into the wind. The wind picked up, and this time Tea was thrown sideways and away from the boys.

"Tea!" They yelled, and Tea dug her nails into the ground trying to find purchase. Her nails scraped the ground awkwardly, and Tea had to wince as she dug harder in, but was only sent farther away.

"Noah! Stop this!" Tea demanded, not knowing where she was anymore. She _had_ been saving her friends from making the roads bleed, and _had_ saved the day, but then the whole 'perfect world' crumbled down around them and Tea wasn't exactly sure where she was. Her nails were digging into rocks and dirt, but because of the wind Tea had to close her eyes and try to hold her ground. The wind suddenly stopped, and Tea hesitantly opened her eyes. Tristan and Joey were also looking around from the opposite side of the clearing they were finding themselves in, and with a wariness and a shifting glance at their surroundings Tea stood up.

"Tay?" Joey called. "Is he here? Please say no, I don't want that creep anywhere me _or_ my brain."

"I don't see Noah, but that doesn't mean a thing. He controls this place, he could be right in our midst and we'd never know." Tea replied, turning around carefully.

"What does he _want_?" Tristan demanded, standing up less cautious than Tea had. "I don't get it. Why kidnap everyone? What is he trying to accomplish?"

"How would I know?" Tea asked desperately. She didn't know how to be a leader, she was the cheerleader, that was what she was good at! _Not _saving the world, well virtual world, from Noah and not really getting why _she_ of all people was gifted with the ability of remembrance. How was she supposed to save the (virtual) world, she didn't have any special power or anything! What was she supposed to prove, and to whom? And why! She wished she had been able to reawaken the memories in Yugi, _he_ knew what he was doing. He had already saved the world countless times! Tea was almost positive when Yugi finally died his tombstone would read:

"Yugi Muto

Beloved Husband and Father

Defender of Earth

He saved the world a lot"

And hers:

"Tea Gardner

Wonderful Wife and Mother

She liked friendship"

Big difference. Sighing Tea called out Noah's name again, and once again he didn't show.

"So, what are we going to do?" Tristan finally asked.

"Yeah, this feels like all the other times we save the world. We need to get a plan. Anyone know how to do that?" Joey asked.

"Well, so far all I've figured out is that if we unlock everyone's memories Noah loses his control over them." Tea shrugged.

"Yeah, but we're all still _here_, in his virtual realm." Tristan pointed out.

"I think we need to find The Pharaoh." Tea suddenly realized.

"Isn't he with Yuge?" Joey asked confused.

"No, his 'perfect' world was where he was accepted as himself, not with The Pharaoh and all the accomplishments he's made because of dueling with his other half." Tea sighed, did he really see things that way? Tea thought sadly.

"Well, then we need the Pharaoh." Tristan said. "Any ideas where he is?" Tea shook her head.

"You want The Pharaoh?" Noah's voice laughed, and the trio turned to watch him emerge from the forest. "Well then, I suggest-"

"No more riddles Noah. Just let us out already." Tea sighed.

"Tea, Tea." Noah chided. "Either you play by my rules or we can start all over again."

"You are _so_ not my friend." She ground out.

"Aw, we're making progress." He laughed. "Now Tea,

Follow the land to the sand filled hills,

Where great big pyramids line the sky,

And look for he with robes of maroon,

and he with the objects of power.

Give up now, and I promise you loss,

or continue on without thought."

"I still can't stand your riddles." Tea sighed.

"Oh, I do enjoy our talks." Noah laughed, and backed right out of the clearing. "So let's head for the 'sand filled hills.'"

"Can we trust him?" Joey demanded.

"Not really, but all of his riddles were right on. They lead me to Yuge, to you two, and they will lead me to The Pharaoh. Hopefully."

"Well, then we got a lot of walking ahead of us. We should get started." Tristan replied, and the trio started out, each one fearing the dread that came with trying to save the world, no matter the fact this one wasn't real.


	11. Finding The Pharaoh

Tea unconsciously took the lead, something the boys breathed a sigh of relief over. They had all taken part in saving the world before, but actually being the one to take down evil was a daunting task, even to Joey who was about to blow Noah's brains out.

If he still had any.

"So, I don't get it. We've been walking forever, but I still haven't seen any pyramids, and I doubt a desert will spring up in the middle of a forest." Tristan spoke up, calling into question the doubt on everyone's minds.

"Yeah, Tay. Are you sure this is the right direction?" Joey added.

"I think so. The air's getting hotter, the trees are thinning, and you can't see the sun burning a hole in your hair so I'm going to guess yes." Tea replied, and Joey ran to dunk his head in a river.

"So, Tay, how are we going to get to see The Pharaoh? If you're right, then The Pharaoh will be ruling Egypt again, and three strangers won't be able to walk straight up to him and say that his whole kingdom's fake without somebody stabbing us with spears." Tristan asked as we continued to walk.

"I'm really not sure, Tristan. I'm hoping we can first get an audience with him and then make our statements, try to prove what's real." Tea replied a little unsure herself. She knew she was going to have to make The Pharaoh believe, but how was a whole other question. She knew she had too, if she didn't, then she'd have both failed and be stuck in Noah's little game of a world forever. "We can do this, I know we can. Heart of the cards, remember?" She smiled.

"Never forget." Tristan replied, putting his hands in his pockets. Walking took forever, and the three made camp for the night before getting up to keep on going. There was no stops, and whenever they met someone they tried to prove this world was a fake. In some cases they succeeded, in others they were written off as crazy loons. But finally the top of a gigantic pyramid rose into their view, and the tree let out whoops and cheers.

"_Finally_!" Joey yelled. "I thought we'd never make it!"

"This trip took forever! I told you we needed to turn right Tea!" Tristan said.

"Well I got us here didn't I?" Tea demanded playfully.

"We could've gotten here sooner if _someone_ hadn't stopped in a perfect world full of food!" Tristan laughed, grabbing Joey in a choke hold.

"Hey! I smelled food, and Mr. Awesome Hunter Expert, you couldn't catch us a single fish!" Joey retorted.

"Good thing too, I wasn't gutting any fish, in this world or ours!" Tea spoke in.

"We got here." Joey suddenly whispered.

"Yeah." Tristan replied quietly. The three walked toward the sand with ominous foreboding, knowing the next step onto the sandy ground would transport them into Pharaoh's domain. Here, they were not friends of a great Pharaoh, the ruler would barely know them and wouldn't be inclined to help poor little village people who were dressed in something that was definitely not decent attire and Tea would probably be cast aside without second thought. The boys would look like someone from a far away land, and wouldn't be taken seriously in the Egyptian Courts. They were about to be ridiculed and thrown away, laughed at and scorned.

"Well, let's go." Tea finally spoke up, and took the first steps. The minute her foot touched the sand, she felt something tingle, and suddenly Tristan and Joey were gone.

"Tristan! Joey!" She called, and she suddenly found herself in a long white cotton dress with a gold circlet around her head resting comfortably on her hair, and she had gold arm bands on her sleeveless biceps. She found herself in thin brown sandals, and she found herself spitting out sand bits. The boys suddenly appeared, each in Egyptian clothing like her, and looking shocked at it. Tristan barely had a shirt that reached his knees and no shirt, and the same with Joey except he too had a circlet on his head. Tristan was clutching a spear and shield, and looking so bewildered by it that Tea just cracked up laughing.

"How did-" Tristan began, but Joey broke in.

"You're our guard!" He laughed. "I'm your Master, Tristan, bow before me and Lady Tea." He commanded. And with a groan of annoyance Tristan quickly gave a quick bow. "Good my servant." Joey nodded with a regal air. Tea stopped laughing as a though dawned on her.

"I have to say 'Thank you, Noah.' don't I?" She asked quietly.

"I guess." Joey replied.

"You don't have to, but it's just good manners." Tristan told her, leaning on his spear with a sigh. "This is the weirdest outfit I have ever worn, let's go convince The Pharaoh and get out of here."

"Yeah, let's do this!" Joey agreed, and we set off through the sands toward the sounds of a nearby village.

"I really hope we don't have to trudge through to many villages before we reach The Pharaoh's house, it's so hot out here!" Tea complained quietly, wiping sweat off her forehead.

"You need a veil or somethin', so do we." Joey agreed, taking the lead to take the burnt of the wind out of her way.

"Thanks Joey." She sighed relieved.

"Hey, servant dude, come take the front for me." Joey called jokingly.

"No thanks, _master_, I'm perfectly fine back here." Tristan called back with a grin.

"Eh, he never does what I want." Joey sighed, putting his head down and pushing forward. The group continued on, the wind howling in their ears until they reached the first city. Once inside, they were bombarded with a jostling population and sellers yelling at them with each turn they took.

"Come here, come one, come all!" One called.

"Buy your fresh bread here!" Another yelled out.

"Jewelry, get your jewelry for the lovely lady of your life!"

"Come 'ere, come 'ere!"

"Buy some fruit while in Pharaoh's City!" Another called, and Tea gasped in excitement.

"Guys! Guys! Did you hear what he said? The _Pharaoh's_ City! We're in the Pharaoh's City!" Tea exclaimed jumping up and down.

"Calm down, Tay. We gotta get to the palace then, and we gotta find where that is." Joey said, slowing her down before she took off running.

"Do you need to find the palace?" A quiet voice spoke up, and the group turned to find a young girl standing near them. She had curling brown hair, purple colored eyes, and was wearing an elegant cotton dress like Tea's.

"Yes, we do." Tea told her, dropping down on her knees to look at the girl at the same eye level.

"My mama lives in the palace of The Pharaoh, I could take you there." She said slowly.

"That would be great! And who are you, sweetie?" Tea asked pleasantly.

"I'm Ankah. Come with me." She said, grabbing Tea's hand pulled her down a few roads and through enormous crowds and markets before coming to a gate that barricaded the people from the king of the land.

"Halt! Why do you come to the Pharaoh's dwelling?" A guard demanded, blocking the entrance.

"Hi Surji, I'm bringing my friends to the palace." Ankah smiled.

"Oh, hey Ankah. You know they can't come through the front gate, besides wouldn't want your parents knowing what you've been up to. Try the servants entrance, Ankah, no one notices all the people who come through that gate." The guard replied, dropping the spear back to his side.

"Okay! And remember, I wasn't here." Ankah smiled, and pulled Tea toward a side door. Ankah pulled her into a bustling kitchen filled with exotic smells and chefs and servants bringing food in and out the doors. "Pharaoh must be having lunch! Him or his advisers." Ankah amended as she wove through the maze of people to enter them into a hallway. "I gotta find Mama, the Pharaoh's quarters are down the hall and to the right. You're pretty enough to be considered a concubine, and your two friends could be considered servants, you won't be paid no mind. Good luck, bye bye!" Ankah called as she dove right back into a mess of people with a wave and without looking back.

"Concubine?" Tea wondered aloud and shook her head disbelievingly.

"You _do_ look like one, Tay, all dressed up like you are." Joey allowed.

"If I am a concubine then you're a servant." Tea retorted, placing her hands on her hips.

"Guys, we don't have time. We have to find The Pharaoh and get out of here." Tristan broke in.

"What do you need me for?" A deep voice rumbled, and the trio turned to find a man who looked like The Pharaoh in front of them. The resemblance was close, but the man in front of them wasn't their Pharaoh.

"Um, not you my lord." Tea stumbled trying to figure out what was going on. If The Pharaoh wasn't in charge of Egypt then where was he. "I'm sorry, Great Pharaoh, I've forgotten. Who is your first born son?" Tea asked, maybe The Pharaoh was in line for the throne right now.

"My first born son? Atem of course! Now if you'll excuse me, I'm trying to hide from my military adviser. He keeps prompting me to attack Mesopotamia and I would rather not."

"For shame upon him." Tea agreed, curtsying as the Great Pharaoh passed. "So, if The Pharaoh's not ruling, that means he's in line. So that means that this 'Atem' is The Pharaoh!" Tea explained excitedly.

"Um, Tea, how are we going to find him? He's the Prince of Egypt, I don't think just anyone can go up to him." Tristan asked, holding his spear threateningly at his side.

"I would guess we work as his nanny or something." Tea shrugged, and started walking down a hall.

"I am _not_ working as The Pharaoh's nanny, Tay. It's just weird." Joey argued pointlessly.

"We need to get to him, and if it's the only way then it's the only way." Tea sighed. The trio walked around the palace aimlessly, until a head servant stopped them.

"What are you doing here?" He barked.

"Our apologizes, master. We were assigned to look after young Atem today, but we know not where he is. Could you show us?" Tea asked politely, bowing her head in submission. She raised her eyes to him as the man debated.

"I have a spare moment. Follow me." He decided and took off the away he had come.

"Thank you!" Tea called as they ran after him.

"This is the nursery. Young Prince Atem does not enjoy being here because, as he says, he is not a child. I wish you luck." The servant said and left the three to a door.

"Let's do this." Tea breathed, opening the door. The three were entering a war zone.

"Let me out of this confinement! I wanna go! Let me go!" A boy's voice was screaming, and the three found themselves confronted with a woman struggling to hold onto a young boys with tri colored hair and proud features contorted in screams of rage.

"Hello? Yes?" The lady called as she tried to shush a the child.

"Um, we came to look after Atem. We're here to relieve you." Tea told her almost afraid of the screaming child.

"Oh thank Ra! I'm going to leave now, Prince, please be nice to the caretakers." The woman begged as she rushed out the door.

"Who are you?" Atem demanded.

"I'm Tea, and these are my friends Joey and Tristan." She began.

"I wanna go to the gardens." Atem demanded.

"No, we need to talk to you about something." Tea told him in a sweet voice.

"I don't wanna listen." Atem replied, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"What about a story instead?" Tristan spoke up. "One with adventure, and daring journeys into the unknown."

"What kind of adventure?" Atem asked begrudgingly, his curiosity eating away at him.

"You gotta sit down before we begin." Tristan bargained, and huffing Atem sat on the floor cross legged. "And you have to promise to be quiet until we're done."

"What if I don't?"

"Then you won't have a story." Tristan replied with a smile.

"All right."

"Once, long ago in the sands of Egypt was a wise ruler, a Great Pharaoh. He defeated every evil that came his way, because he had control over great beasts called 'Battle Monsters'. Using these great beasts, monsters that came in every shape and size, this Pharaoh ruled his lands peacefully, and his rule was one of contentment and prosperity. But one day, a evil rose so great that The Pharaoh had to lock it away in an object called 'The Puzzle'. This power of evil was so great that the only way to truly contain it was to lock himself away with the darkness forever, taking every Battle Monster and dark magical power with him. This Pharaoh was contained in the puzzle for centuries, and inside the puzzle he began to forget. He forgot his name, and he forgot his reign. But he remembered he stood for the side of good, and would never buckle when the darkness rose against him. While trapped inside the puzzle someone broke it in hundreds of pieces, forever letting this ruler drift alone in a black void. Many centuries later, more than a thousand years, a young boy came into possession of the puzzle pieces, and unlike anyone before him began to assemble them. This young boy, let's call him Yugi, solved the puzzle, and broke the Pharaoh free of his confinement. But letting lose The Pharaoh also let lose all the darkness that The Pharaoh had sealed away. The Battle Monsters were let lose upon the world, and the Pharaoh's soul bonded to the young boy's." From there, Tristan told the story of Yugi and The Pharaoh, from all the characters that would hold part of the story, to Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, the first virtual world, and onto awakening the dragons. Atem sat captivated by the tale he had once held part in, and didn't even remember that he had.

"That is so cool!" Atem exclaimed.

"Now, here's something I want you to think about. Do you remember anything like that? Any memory that might've popped up?" Tea asked carefully.

"Um, maybe."


	12. Ankah's secret

"Okay, like what Atem?" Tea prompted gently.

"I don't know, I just know I've heard that story before." Atem shrugged, and then was getting up and heading toward the balcony.

"How do we make him remember?" Joey asked quietly, drawing the group together.

"I'm not sure." Tea faltered. "I was hoping he'd remember on his own, but it's obvious he won't. We need to up it, but the problem comes back to he's just a kid! We can't be hard on him or he'll freak out, and we can't have a Pharaoh-to-be freaking out."

"Well-"

"Prince Atem! It's time for lunch!" A lady called, smiling when she saw Atem's caretakers. "Please bring the Prince to the dining room when ready, his father wants a family lunch. It should be quite interesting, all his wives and all the children! Even the ones born by the concubines! The cooks are in a scramble, and the servants are working on the table, and everyone's in an upheaval. Anyway, make sure the Prince makes it, Pharaoh will be quite displeased if his son does not show." With that said, the lady shut the door and continued her tracking of Pharaoh's children.

"Okay, so we should get going. Atem! It's time for lunch!" Tea called, and Atem returned to the nursery.

"And then you'll tell another story?" He asked, looking at the three caretakers with puppy dog eyes.

"Um, sure. _After _lunch though, you must be hungry. And you'll see all your family too, your father is having a whole family lunch, won't that be fun?" Tristan asked.

"As long as I don't sit near Nefiti, she's mean." Atem grimaced, and flounced out the door. The trio quickly followed behind, and let Atem lead the way. A great dining hall had been set up with tables everywhere, and great ornate chairs of gold and silver had been brought out as well. Servants were bustling about, setting the table, seating royal children, wives, and at the head of the table stood the master servant seating the Pharaoh himself.

"Oh, there's the Prince!" Someone said relieved, and a male servant ran up. "Set him by his father at the front. The Pharaoh wants his first born son and daughter next to him."

"Of course." Tea replied, and hurried Atem up to his father.

"Oh hello, my son! I was wondering when you would arrive." The Pharaoh smiled.

"Father."? Atem replied coolly. Atem was seated at the right hand side of his father, and to the left sat a docile little girl with curling brown hair and eyes the color of Atem's. She hadn't been wearing a gold circlet on her head earlier, but now she was adorned in gold jewelry and was smiling at her brother and father delicately.

"Ankah?" Tea asked shocked.

"Hello." The girl replied in a beautiful royal Egyptian lilt. "I am Princess Ankah of Egypt, how may I be of service?"

"Ah, so not only do you know my first born son, but you have also met my dear little princess." The Pharaoh smiled compassionately at his children before turning to Tea. "What is going on? My daughter here demanded I call my family into a meeting, and she being my beautiful princess, I could not refuse her."

"What?" Tea asked shocked. "How do you know?" Ankah smiled and stood up.

"That my dear friend, would take quite a while to explain, and still would not account to why my mother's children all hold great destinies." Ankah replied, walking over to the elder girl. "Father, please start the lunch, enjoy the company of mother and your wives and children. I will return shortly."

"Anything for you, my little Ankah." The Pharaoh replied, and with a childish grin Ankah dropped her princess role and grabbed Tea hand and ran out of the dining room. Ankah ran with Tea on her heels into a veranda, and there took a seat upon a bench.

"Sit Tea." The Princess smiled, and carefully Tea sat beside the girl. "Now, I know you have a few thousand questions, but I need you to listen to me, to my family's story. Will you listen?"

"Of course, but I still don't see how you know-"

"Listen." Ankah demanded, and Tea shut up. "My family is not the most normal. Not on my father's side, because even though royalty isn't the most usual norm, my mother's family is quite strange and Gifted. The descendants of mother's family can be found out by our eyes, the original ancestor who is first chronicled of our family's line held an unusual purple color for eyes, and he wasn't exactly the most normal. His five children also held purple eyes, and an amount of their children as well. But as the line continued, less and less children were born with purple eyes, until the genealogy of our family's Gift was almost forgotten. After a century of purpleless children, my mother showed she had inherited the Gift, and then it turned out her first two children had as well, but my three other siblings do not hold any Gifts from the original ancestor."

"What's the Gift?" Tea asked slightly confused. What kind of Gift resulted in purple eyes? And what was so special about them?

"The Gift alters form from host to host. The original ancestor held the power of nature, he could control all elements, all natural, earthly powers. His childrens' Gifts were different. One could see the future, one could control elements like his father, one could speak with the dead, one was telepathic, and one held the power of wisdom and leadership. As time continued, the Gift lost prominence in each host, until the Gift was almost eradicated from my family's genes. But mother was born Gifted, she could control people. She could make them see reason even if they truly didn't, make them do as she said, and she could control their thoughts and feelings. In many a human's hand, this Gift would have driven them evil and power hungry, but mother was fortunate to also receive a Gift of humbleness, without that I am sure she would have followed a dark path. She uses her Gift for good, and her name became great in her village, the next villages over, into cities she had never heard of, and all the way to Pharaoh's City where Pharaoh chose her for his first wife. Power is important in a royal court, and because of mother's Gift she influenced the court into making the realm of Egypt prosper. Atem was born first, and mother knew he was Gifted when he opened purple eyes. Atem holds leadership like one of the firsts' did. He has the Gift of Rulers, and off the bat mother knew Egypt would be protected by her son. Like with mother, Atem has a check and balance Gift in him. He holds compassion, and like mother, humbleness. He knows loyalty, unlike my half sibling Jarare, and he knows trust and shrewdness."

"But what has that got to do about you knowing about why we're here?" Tea demanded, braking in.

"Let me finish." Ankah reprimanded. "My eyes are the color of the Gifted, like Atem, like Mother, and like my ancestors before me. I hold three unusual Gifts, Gifts that mother tells me makes me a Master Gifter. I hold the gift of future sight, I can see things to come, exact conversations, plots against father, what I will be having for breakfast and dinner. That was how I knew you would be coming, and about why you were making the journey to this palace. I have the gift of truth, I can tell truths from lies. I know when you are deceiving me, and I will find you out. The last is the one mother warns me to protect with my life. This Gift could alter all history, and can change the future for the best or the worst. It is the Gift of time travel. Now the reason I am explaining this to you is, I cannot time travel here. I knew something was not right when I could not travel, and then I saw the future. There was none. I learned this whole world was a lie. It holds no future, only a continuing present. I could not time travel, because there is no time here. The sun will set, the moon will rise, but time does not truly pass. I saw the future again, or non future, and this time I saw you. I saw you turning the tide, and so letting myself out of the castle I made sure you made it to my home. And you did."

"So, you _know_?"

"Of course, we are Gifted for a reason, Tea. It is my duty to assist those who are in need of help, and so I must help. Although my brother is older, and it would fall to him first, being the Pharaoh's son has spoiled him, and mother made sure I knew how to assist those in need of assistance. Father does not like it when his children leave the palace, he does not think it becoming of future royalty. But mother grew up on the outside, and after disguising me she always took me into the city to learn how to help. That is why Surji at the gate did not let me pass through the front gates, he knows to protect my secret. I am fated to help those who need it, and learning I am in a trap of a cage makes me quite displeased, quite annoyed, and I must help this cause."

"Thank you so much, Ankah. You don't know how easier this will be with you helping us." Tea breathed.

"There is one thing, you must convince my father first, and then if you can't I will support you and get mother to 'convince' father you are right. If a Pharaoh is on your side, then things will be easier for you."

"Okay, let's go convince a Pharaoh." Tea agreed, and stood up in sync with Ankah. Ankah led them back to the main dining hall, where Tea took a steadying breath and approached Pharaoh.

"Ah, Ankah! You're back, and the servant as well. I was worried I would have to send a search team after you, or a priest! Please sit, Ankah, enjoy the feast."

"Father, I told you we must speak of a matter with all the family present, and I would like to speak of that first." Ankah replied as she took her seat on the left hand side.

"Of course, whenever you are ready, daughter."

"If it pleases the Pharaoh, I would like to speak frankly and bluntly. And I will be having the servant Tea speak on my behalf. If I pleases the Pharaoh to listen and speak not a word until servant Tea has ended her request of a matter most important, I would like servant Tea to begin." Ankah said, using terms of request instead of 'you're my dad and you have to listen'.

"You have learned much from your mother, it pleases Pharaoh to listen." Her father replied, and turned his attention to servant Tea.

"Great Pharaoh, as I the Princess has said, Servant Tea will be frank and blunt, and what she says might make you, Great Pharaoh, quite mad. Please refrain from great rage until the servant has finished her words, and please father, actually listen to her on behalf of your little Princess." Ankah spoke again, and Tea mentally thanked her. It wouldn't be good to be sent to the dungeons before she had gotten out what she wanted to say.

"As Pharaoh of Egypt and as the father of the Princess on whose behalf you now speak, I promise to refrain from anger and rage until all the words you will speak have been spoken." The Pharaoh agreed with technical terms. Tea bowed her head and dropped in a curtsy before the kings with a relieved smile. "My family! All those who share my blood through marriage and who have come into the world through my blood, I demand you listen to the words servant Tea will soon speak." The Pharaoh called, and the Pharaoh Family all turned their eyes on her.

"Hello, Royalty of Egypt and Great Pharaoh himself. My name is Tea Gardner, and I am not of this world. In truth, none of you are. A huge evil was loosed upon the world, his name was and is Noah Kaiba. One of my friends defeated him, and the world was safe. But he found a way back to life, and now he's trapping everyone on Earth, all Egypt, in a fake world. He's using magic of old, evil magic, and he's trapping all populations in this fake world. Here he rules over them like a master rules his slaves, and he even went as far as to brainwash everyone. Not people have been able to remember this Noah's evil, but I am one of the rememberers. I gained all my lost memories, and now I must try to free everyone from the false memories Noah has transmitted. Great Pharaoh, _you_ are under Noah's influence. Your kingdom's fake, your ruling's false, and none of this is real. You're trapped inside Noah's idea of a game, and you're playing with him! He's got you wrapped around his little finger, and since you can't remember the truth, Noah keeps winning! I'm sorry if you get mad, but you have to know. None of this real, no one is in fact. Everything's made up, everyone's brainwashed. I found my memories, and I fought to free myself from Noah's control. I am free, but you all are not. The two men who arrived with me have also fought Noah's influence and found freedom as well, but it is our duty to free our friends. Young Atem is among our friends, he doesn't remember us anymore though. Princess Ankah knows we speak truth, it is her divine Gift. If you won't believe me, Pharaoh, then please believe your daughter." Tea spoke the truth, and hoped it was enough. She had made this world seem evil using what she knew of Egyptian fears, dark magic. She had made them think they were slaves, and as the ruling family knew they wouldn't like that, and she had probably sacrificed her life by telling the king he was a fake Pharaoh. Tea waited for the king's reply.

"Well..." He began. "Quite an unusual tale."

"Father." Ankah warned.

"Please Ankah, what a silly little story! Did you have to bring the family together just for us to hear one of your little stories?" Pharaoh laughed.

"Father!" Ankah exclaimed. "My 'stories' are truth!"

"Do not mock my daughter's Gift, Pharaoh." A matured female voice warned.

"Amerin, do you honestly expect me to believe this?" Pharaoh laughed again.

"How is it possible you have your mind set against something, but after just getting a look from me you change your mind?" Ankah's mother Amerin demanded.

"You are my wife, I listen to you."

"No, you were planning to wipe out Mesopotamia until I spoke otherwise. The trading ability and resources were to great a loss!"

"I knew all this on my own."

"You do not make great decisions without my consultations. I knew you never believed my Gift, I knew you never believed Ankah's! I will take my family and leave if you don't take young Tea's words seriously."

"It is just a story!"

"Look at me." Amerin demanded, and when the Pharaoh locked eyes with her he seemed to fall into a trance. "Listen to her words, you have heard them. Are they truth? Honestly consider her mission, honestly consider her." Amerin's words were lyrical and simple and when Pharaoh shook his head Tea knew Amerin had used her Gift.

"Mother." Ankah smiled.

"Dear." Amerin replied.

"Upon consideration within my family I have decided that your words hold a ring of truth. I must take consul before I proceed." Pharaoh finally declared. Once he had left the room with his advisers the room burst into conversation and murmurs.

"I knew it couldn't be real!"

"I told you something was off."

"How _can_ it be?"

"How do we defeat this Noah and return to our true homeland?"

"What are we going to do?"

"I tried to tell you."

"This is impossible."

"The Pharaoh will know what to do."

"Hey Tea, good job, please sit." Ankah smiled, pulling a chair over.

"So, the story you told me, about...Yugi...and about the...puzzle...was true?" Atem asked confused.

"It was all true. That was _your_ story Tristan told." Tea told the young prince gently.

"I...remember." He whispered. His eyes opened wide, his mouth grew agape, and in five seconds he had reverted to his normal height and age. "Tea." He remarked. "Thank you." His voice had deepened, his features were more regal, and his unusual eyes showing his Gift were as deep and as different as ever. "Well, so that's what you look like." Ankah laughed. "Finally lost the baby chubbiness didn't you?"

"Ankah!" Her mother warned with mirth.

"Look who's talking, Ankie." Atem shot back, completely relaxed and not taking anything seriously. It was a good change for him. Tea thought with a smile. The Pharaoh came back into the room with his advisers in tow, and Tea waited breathless for the final decision. The Pharaoh sat down, and took a long look at the strange girl who had turned everything in his kingdom upside down.

"I have decided." He finally sighed. "The facts have been obvious for a time now. I can't believe I haven't done anything sooner, but I did not want my son growing up without a sister or mother. Amerin, you, your daughter, servant Tea, and her two little friends are all being sent to the dungeons. You have been decided crazy and are in treason against the country. Guards! Get them out of here!"


	13. A Simple Deal

"What?" Amerin exclaimed.

"Father!" Ankah cried.

"You cannot be serious!" Atem exclaimed.

"Oh I am. Guards! Get them out of here! Get them out of here _now_!" Pharaoh thundered. Tea watched stunned as guards came running at them, and of course Joey and Tristan took the offensive. Tristan was using his spear, thankfully not the lethal side, and Joey was going at them with fist and feet. Suddenly, strong arms grabbed Tea in a choke hold, and after letting out a small 'eep' the fighting stalled.

"Everyone just calm down." The voice murmured, and Tea found a huge guard holding her. "Now, Jameeme, Astar, get those two servants, Carlile and Sopen, get the wife and daughter. Quick and efficient, _now._" The guard ordered, and the five were filed out.

"Father. Bring them back! They speak the truth." Atem thundered as they exited the dining hall. Tea couldn't understand what was happening. They had shown Atem his world was false, and he'd believed them, so why wasn't the world collapsing?

"Help! Atem!" She shouted helplessly, and was silenced with a choke hold.

"Shut it."

"Made quite a show back there. Wasn't nice of you." One of the guards commented, and the others nodded. The five were all taken into separate cells, and Tea hung onto the cell bars like her life depended on it. She was in _jail_. Tea Gardner did not go to _jail_! She never, ever went to _jail_. She started hyperventilating, and then she pushed herself of the bars to slink down against the back walls. She was shocked. How could she be in jail? How could Pharaoh not have believed her? And even with Amerin's Gift, how could Pharaoh not see the light? She looked ahead blankly, staring into the nothingness that was before her. How could she be- and with no help- and how was she going to- WHAT WAS SHE GOING TO DO?

Tea stared ahead blankly, holding her hand to her chest in shock. Her fingers brushed the necklace around her throat lightly, and she was startled out of her thoughts.

_In case of great dire,_ _use this jewel and the trouble won't seem as big as it once was._

The fairy's words whispered in her head, the promise echoing over and over.

"In case of great dire..." She whispered, thinking jail time was as great the dire would get. And even besides that, Pharaoh didn't believe her, no one would, Noah would win.

He would _win_.

Tea couldn't let that happen. She had failed to remind Yugi, she had reminded Joey, Tristan, and Atem thankfully, but Noah was going to win anyway. She couldn't let that happen. She didn't know how she was supposed to use the necklace, it was kinda stuck around her neck after all, and that fairy didn't give her instructions on how to use the thing anyway! Tea twirled the star in fingers, twisting it back and forth.

"I wish we were out of this dungeon, and I wish everyone could remember. I wish they could remember what's real, and what Noah lied about. I wish...Noah couldn't control my friends and everyone else he stole from Earth." Tea whispered, closing her eyes and clasping the heart in her hand.

The thing started to glow, and burn her fingers, and once Tea ripped her fingers away from it a red beam shot out from it, swirling in the confines of her cell and then blinding everything. Tea shot her hands up to cover her eyes, and once the beam disappeared the cell was gone, and she was standing up in a grassy meadow, miles and miles of populations all around her. Everyone was yelling, shouting out the vileness of Noah Kaiba.

"Noah! Let us out!" They were all yelling.

"You're evil Noah!"

"Let us out!"

"Let us out!"

Tea closed her eyes, and felt the little star around her neck about to dissipate and disappear forever. She needed one last wish, a small, unselfish wish.

"I wish all my family and friends were free. I wish the friends I haven't met yet can escape. Set them free." She whispered sadly, and the star complied. Another beam was shot, the last of its energy. Everyone around her started dematerializing, and then she was suddenly alone on the grassy plain.

"What did you _do_?" A voice thundered, and Noah was suddenly in front of her.

"Let's make a deal." She said instead.

"And why would I do that?" Noah demanded with a taunt.

"Because, you don't need all of them. The biggest threats you have are all my friends, even if Kaiba won't admit it. I hold all my friends together, and you know that. I make sure everyone sticks together, and I make sure we stay friends. You know without me everything would fall apart. Leave them all alone. Keep me here instead."

"My, my." He chuckled.

Tea had explained to the best of her ability. She knew this would mean never going back home, never seeing her friends, but they were all safe now. She had won, even if the price was costly. But she knew she had done what Yugi would have, if he had remembered. She knew doing it this way would mean everyone was safe. If they had all escaped, Noah would have come after them. But leaving him with a prize after his 'hard work' would protect everybody else.

"My, my." He repeated. "You _do_ know what you're doing, right? If you stay, you swear an oath of loyalty to me, and you must never leave until I permit you. Which will be never!" He laughed. Tea swallowed. She knew she had to do it.

For Yugi.

For Tristan.

For Joey.

Serenity.

Mai.

Grandpa Muto.

Her history teacher.

Her parents.

For Earth.

"I know." She whispered. 


	14. Back On Earth

Yugi remembered.

He remembered _everything_.

How could he have been so blind? How could he not have known Tea would never lead him astray, that she would be trying to help him, save him, he should have known. And now she was stuck in Noah's little fantasy world, trapped forever because she tried to save them all.

And she had.

She had set everyone free, she had beat Noah, but at the cost of her freedom. Yugi slammed his fist onto his desk in anger. It wasn't fair! And now she was trapped with _N__oah _for all eternity, and Yugi had already beaten Noah once! It wasn't fair! He had been so blind, and because he hadn't trusted his friend, Tea was trapped in a virtual nightmare, forever.

"Calm yourself, Yugi." Atem's voice murmured gently. "We will get her back, she is not lost to us." Since everyone had been returned to Earth, both he and Atem had been bonded back together. And The Pharaoh even knew his name! His _real_ name, and had unlocked all the power that came with it.

"How can we? We can't get back to her! Noah's locked us out, he won!" Yugi shouted angrily, jumping up to pace his room. Noah hadn't kidnapped anyone since Tea had saved them, and with no one being Taken, Yugi didn't have a chance at getting back into the virtual world. "I bet Kaiba doesn't even have a digitalizer, does he?" Yugi muttered angrily.

"Have you given up all hope?" Atem shouted at him, and Yugi was so stunned to hear the tranquil spirit raise his voice that he paused to look at his ethereal counterpart. "Can you not feel the air? There is hope yet! Can't you feel the aura in the air? It is saturated through with magic, both dark and light. There is someone in this city with great power, immense power Yugi. And someone with this much energy can probably create a spell to send us into Noah's world."

"What?" He asked surprised, trying to feel what Atem could feel floating in the air.

"The air is drenched with magic, Yugi. There is so many weaves of magic in the air, it is quite possible there is more than one with great magic."

"If we can find this magic person, or magic people, we might be able to save Tea!" Yugi exclaimed.

"It is quite possible, but the quest to find them will be as daunting as impossible. Can't you feel all the weaves and snags in the air? To simply sort out one thread would take close to forever, and being able to follow it would be another task all together." Atem sighed, putting his hand on his forehead with the dreariness of the impossibility looming before them. But if it was to save Tea, they knew it was worth it.

"We have to do it, we have to find this magic person." Yugi decided.

"I agree, Yugi."

"Hm, well let me make your task a little easier." A new voice laughed, and the duo turned to find a tall girl with long black hair and bright green eyes leaning against the door frame. She was wearing jeans and a purple shirt, and a dazzling smile decorated her tan face. "Hi, I'm Rek, my family and I are the source of all this magic."

"_You_?" Atem asked thunderstruck, taking the petite girl in.

"Long time no see. What's it been? A few thousand years? A millenia?" She asked, walking over to the spirit and giving him a hug. Yugi expected this new arrival to fall through Atem's corporeal form, but amazingly she was able to touch him as if he were flesh and blood. The second two things that registered were A) This Rek could actually _see_ Atem and B) Rek knew Atem!

"It has been awhile." Atem chuckled, breaking the embrace. "It has been awhile since the palace days, Rek dear. Why have you not passed on?"

"My family's duty is never done." She replied with a smile. "And why haven't you? I would have expected you to have passed on long ago."

"My duty has not been completed." Atem replied quietly.

"Ah, well. Anyway, Yugi, I've come to talk about Tea."

"We have to get her back, do you know how? And how do you know Tea?" Yugi demanded.

"I met her after Tristan had been Taken, and a bit before you two and Joey had disappeared. She is quite an uncommon girl, isn't she? She took to our cause immediately, she even let herself be Taken in order to return one of our own to us. So caring, so brave. She saved the day, didn't she? At the cost of her freedom." Rek ended in a whisper. Yugi could see the pain he had felt earlier reflect out of Rek's eyes. Tea always left an impression on everyone she met, she could alter lives with a simple smile and they all knew that. They had to get her back.

"Can we get her back?" Yugi finally asked.

"Thankfully yes. Thanks to Noah taking one of our wards, we are allowed to take vengeance. And be assured of one thing, we will be letting the full fury of our power fly. Noah will not go unpunished, of that I promise." Rek promised darkly, and Yugi swallowed in fear. Rek's one little glare had been enough to scare him into next week, and he didn't want to get on her bad side. "Now, once Tea played the martyr and promised her loyalty to Noah, I knew the boy would spin it into something huge. He loves the little theatrics, every theatric really. He will want to dress her up, dress himself up, and create a perfect little bubble where she can swear her loyalty for all eternity. We have less than a day to go crash this little service, or there will be nothing we can do." Rek explained quietly.

"So what do we have to do?" Yugi demanded. He would get his friend back, he would.

"I thought you'd never ask." Rek smiled in delight. 


	15. The Ceremony

Tea looked down at her feet in silence.

Today was the day, today was doomsday.

And the sad part was, she had chosen her doomsday. She could have avoided it, she could have escaped with everyone else back to Earth. But she knew better, she couldn't have run away if she had wanted to. She looked up into the mirror, and saw the reflection of a rich prisoner looking back at her. Her hair had been brushed and pulled back, a beautiful white veil covering her head and hair and reaching down to the middle of her back. A dazzling sky blue dress decorated her thin body, and glass white shoes ended the ensemble. Tea brushed the veil from her eyes with a sigh. Noah had chosen the outfit, he was going to be her master in a few hours, and because he was about to become her captor Tea knew she had to obey. Noah had explained the ceremony earlier, just so she would know what was going to be the last life altering decision as Tea Gardner. First Noah would tell her all the rules, basically did she swear loyalty for all of time, never try to run away, _ever_, and the last part...that was what scared her the most. Staring at the mirror, a single tear slipped down her cheek. Memories of the boys passed through her head with love and amusement, memories of past duels decorated her thoughts, going shopping with Mai and Serenity...

All the memories of her loved ones, her family, all her school buddies, and her teachers swept her up in remembrance, and she smiled sadly, wiping the tear off her face. She looked at herself in the mirror. She was Tea Gardner, wether she remembered after today or not.

"Miss Tea, it's time." A virtual maid said, entering her room with a smile. Noah had gone back to a virtual population, one debugged and on perfect programs. If she went outside she would find people everywhere, only they weren't real. Noah and her were the only 'real' things here. Tea looked herself over in the mirror again.

It was time.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She whispered sadly, fingering the veil with sorrow.

"Wonderful, Miss Tea! Noah is waiting, he found a beautiful alcove for the oaths to be exchanged. It's on the beach, view of both sand and surf for miles. It should be beautiful."

"I'm coming." Tea repeated, and let the maid lead her out to a waiting carriage. Two sets of beautiful white horses led the coach, and Tea knew this was what she had wanted for her wedding, if she ever had the chance. The maid bustled her in the coach and with a slight jolt Tea was off toward the sea. She smiled as she saw people wave to her, and then her thoughts drifted away to a different time, on a different world. She shifted back to dancing, the simple movements that chased all her fears away. She had wanted to go to Julliard's, she wanted to dance. She wasn't going to be able to dance again, not as she knew how to or why she loved it. Time stopped as another tear slipped down her cheek, and then another. She never let out a sob, the pain never racked her body. It was simply tears of submission, tears of sorrow, tears of acceptance.

She had decided her fate.

The coach slowed to a stop, and the door was thrown open.

"We're here Miss Tea!" The maid said cheerfully, shading her eyes from the warm sunlight. "Isn't it beautiful out today?" Tea had to smile as the maid helped her out, and showed her to a long black carpet that led to the alter of her doom. "Oh, isn't this exciting?" The maid asked as she led Tea down the aisle. Tea didn't reply, just looked toward the man who stood on the left side of the wooden alter.

"Tea." He said simply as the maid took center stage as the minister of the oath.

"Noah." She whispered in return. The maid coughed lightly, calling the two into silence.

"Dearies, today you make a solemn oath of loyalty, of obedience, of respect." She began, and Tea turned to look at her feet. "Today, in the great virtual realm that belongs to Noah Kaiba, Tea Gardner take Noah Kaiba as her master, as her captor. Noah Kaiba do you take Tea Gardner as your servant, to treat her kindly and honor her? To you promise to be a fair man if she runs, not to punish with the weapons you have in your closet?" Tea snapped her eyes to Noah when the maid said that. Noah simply smirked.

"I doubt that will become a problem after the ceremony is concluded." Noah told the minister maid.

"Noah Kaiba, you take Tea Gardner as your servant for all time. As your servant, she will no longer be Tea Gardner, what has your decision been on her new name?"

"She will become Chorine Kaiba, she will belong to me as this name." Noah replied.

"Quite beautiful, and fitting. Chorine, French meaning 'maiden' and 'dancer', wonderful choice. Tea Gardner, do you accept this name?"

"I do." She whispered.

"Then as Chorine Kaiba, do you agree to become Noah Kaiba's servant for all time? Do you agree to swear loyalty to him, to bow to decisions, to never run away from him, and to agree to have all previous memories sucked away from you?" A sob stuck itself in Tea's throat. This was what she shied from the most. She was never going to remember Yugi, or The Pharaoh Atem, Joey and his hot hotheadedness, Tristan and his friendship and his overwhelming loyalty and laughter, Mai and her unusualness, Serenity and her sweetness, Grandpa Muto's kindness, her parents love, she would forget all things from Earth. All people of Earth, everything.

"Chorine?" Noah asked quietly.

"I-"

"Stop it!" A voice rang out, and the trio twirled to find the Saew family standing their ground on the black carpet.

"You can't take Tea." Another voice ground out, and Yugi was taking his stand beside the Saew's.

"She's one of ours." Tristan agreed, coming into view.

"Tea belongs with us." Joey added, crossing his arms as he walked forward.

"She is my friend." MG said firmly glaring at Noah with fury.

"She also agreed to this herself. And there is no Tea Gardner here, there is myself, the maid, and Chorine. Who you seek isn't among us." Noah told the group calmly.

"Stop messin' with us. I can see Tay right there." Joey shouted, pointing toward the blue clad, white veiled girl standing looking at the new arrivals shocked.

"Guys, what are you doing here?" She asked surprised.

"We're here to rescue you." Tristan told her calmly.

"You can't, this is the only way." She told them in a whisper.

"There's a loophole to every contract, and this one being Noah is due punishment." Rek replied, rubbing her hands together with glee. Electricity crackled off her fingertips, and MG pulled a mini wand from her necklace and reverted it to normal size to fight alongside Rek.

"You see Noah, you Took some of our wards. That is not seen by the Powers That Be as something to be proud of." Mr. Saew called out patiently.

"Explain." Noah replied.

"You Took MG, we didn't like that. It is our duty to protect the Battle Monsters, the Duel Monsters, and we have permission to obliterate anyone who tries to harm them."

"Ah, but in that lies your problem." Noah laughed. "I never harmed them, ask young MG there. I never laid a hand on her little head, I only granted her wish. I saw no harm in that, but let's ask the mage herself. MG, did I ever harm you during your stay here?"

"You zapped the lightning." She whispered.

"Not at you, it was an indirect bolt. You were never harmed. You felt fear as I returned you to Earth, but you were never harmed, were you?" MG shook her head no. "See? I have done no harm."

"You kidnapped them!" Wen roared.

"I asked permission before each was placed in bliss. Each agreed if I gave them pure happiness it would not pose a problem. I know of your power, I know of the pact that binds the justice behind your power." Noah replied, facing the unexpected guests with a calm expression. "You hold no weight here."

"You can't do this! Tea can't stay here forever!" Tristan shouted out.

"Tea was a nice girl, but for the thousandth time there is no Tea here." Noah replied.

"Tea, tell him he's crazy." Joey snapped, and Tea could not look him in the eye.

"I agreed to lose my name. He's right, Tea does not exist in this realm anymore." She had to tell them. "Tea doesn't exist here."

"WHAT? You can't be serious." The gang demanded.

"My name is now Chorine." She whispered.

"You can't do this Te-Chorine. You have a choice." Yugi begged her.

"No, I don't." She told them quietly. "This is the only way."

"Not completely." A new voice piped up, and Mrs. Saew entered the debate. She looked like Rek, but had bright blond, impossible blond, hair. "You hold crimes against humanity, Noah. The world will not take that lightly."

"Explain, madame." Noah asked, sighing with practiced patience.

"You have kidnapped scores of humans, each against their will. Holding them captive in golden cages will not be tolerated."

"You hold no power over human populations until they interfere with the duel monsters." Noah interjected with a smile.

"Did you, or did you not, take some of my creatures out from my care without consulting me?"

"Um,..."

"You _did_ take my wards without my permission, and when it comes to my permission, you did not have my say. Taking the creatures' agreement over this captivity holds no value what so ever, Noah. They are minors in every aspect. We are their guardians, and without our say in the matter this was an act of kidnapping and treason against all Battle Creatures, all Duel Monsters, everywhere. And because of this simple act of rebellion we are allowed our vengeance. So Noah, are you willing to let Miss Chorine, ahem, _Tea_ go?" Mrs. Saew asked sweetly.

"This is an outrage!" Noah declared.

"No, this is simple crime and punishment." Wen spoke up.

"We'll be taking our friend now." MG decided.

"Noah?" The maid asked confused.

"This will not be allowed." Noah warned the group rising up before him.

"The punishment will be served." Mr. Saew declared.

"Okay, give it your best shot." Noah sneered, and grabbed Tea and swung her in front of him as a human shield.

"How barbarian!" Mrs. Saew said disgruntled.

"Don't try anything, or she's toast. All she has to do is say 'I do' and I win, and you all have to get out of here." Noah warned.

"She wouldn't." Atem replied.

"Really? What's your name my dear?" Noah asked the girl in front of him. Her mind blanked, and came up with Chorine. Her real name was now completely wiped from her memory, the removal of her memories had begun with the first 'I do'. She couldn't remember, what _was_ her name?

"Chor-Chorine." She whispered.

"Perfect, my dear." He laughed.

"What did you do to her?" Yugi demanded.

"It was her own choice." Noah replied smugly.

"Because you _forced_ her to! She felt she had no choice in the matter." Tristan argued.

"But she did, and her choice is plain for all to she." Noah replied. "Now, _Chorine_ say 'I do' please."

"Um, we're in the middle of something." She replied instead, looking at all the people around her.

"Hm, so we are."

"You kidnapped all people of earth, the environment thanks you actually. Gave it some time to clean up the humans' messes. Global warming isn't as bad, or is the littering. Actually, you're not that bad." Mrs. Saew shook her head at absurdity of her statement. "But you must be punished for your actions. Set the young woman down and face the consequences as a man, Noah."

"I don't think so." He replied, and Chorine tried to wiggle free. "Stand still." Noah hissed, and Chorine froze as Noah's grip tightened into boa like constrictness.

"Stop it! You're hurting her!" Yugi shouted as Tea gasped from the pain.

"Why don't you leave? I will willingly set Chorine down then." Noah bargained. The group knew they had met at an impasse, neither side was budging.

"Mother? Do you remember the villain Achanari?" Rek suddenly spoke up.

"Of course, what are you trying to imply?" Rek's mother asked confused.

"Remember his scheme, and the scheme we used in reply?" Rek asked with a smile.

"The-oh! Oh yes I do." Her mother responded with a secretive smile. "Noah, we'll leave."

The groups on both sides gasped, both for different reasons.

"I'm glad you finally saw the light." Noah replied with a smug grin.

"But let me speak with Tea before we depart, you may hold her if you wish." Mrs. Saew bargained, and after a moment's contemplation and keeping his grip on Tea's middle, he nodded her forward. "Ah, Tea. I will miss you."

"Who's Tea? I'm Chorine." The captive replied confused.

"Of course you are, my dear." Mrs. Saew smiled patronizingly and reached around the captive girl to hug her. "Don't worry, you will be free soon." She whispered to the girl, and then blew a cold gust of air in Noah's suspicious face. The boy automatically started to ice over, until he became a simple little icicle. "Wonderful memory you reminded me off, Rek, quite a smart memory too!" She called as she melted Noah's arms so Tea could burst free. When Noah's arms started trying to grab at things, Mrs. Saew quickly refroze them and smiled at the group. "Well, I do believe punishment can begin now!" She called out cheerfully, and Yugi, Tristan, and Joey burst forward to hug their confused friend.

"Tea!"

"You're okay!"

"Don't _ever_ scare me like that again! Do ya hear me?"

"Tea, we were so worried!"

The voices overlapped, and the brunette looked around confused. Why did they think she was this 'Tea'? She was having a memory blank, but she didn't think her name was Tea, it was Chora, or Chorline, or something like that. Oh yeah, her name was Chorine! She didn't really know why she couldn't remember her name, but she was having serious trouble with it.

"Noah, Noah, Noah." Rek tsked, walking around the icicle with a mischievous smile. "You've caused quite a lot of damage. We don't like that, it wasn't nice."

"You have come before judgment, Noah, there's no way out." Wen grinned.

"You don't go up against a Saew and come away unscathed. Didn't you know that? Weren't you supposed to know everything, Noah?" Mr. Saew added in, joining the other Saew's in a circle around the icicle containing Noah.

"It is time, children? My husband? Are you ready?" Mrs. Saew asked, and the family members nodded. Each bowed their heads for a brief moment, and then shot their hands out onto the frozen ice block. Each hand glowed with unnatural light, and a scream was racketing inside the popsicle of an iceberg. Noah's scream echoed and then Noah was thrown to the ground, smoke floating off his burnt body. "Continue?" Mrs. Saew asked, and a simple nod made each raise their hands above their heads and then point them at Noah's crisp body, and then he screamed in pain again. The Saew's tortured Noah with everything they had, each element at their disposal, each monster able to be called forth.

"This isn't natural." Yugi muttered, shielding his eyes from the next scream.

"The Saews do not have the lightest job." Atem replied.

"Dat's the truth." Joey nodded.

"This is freaky." Tristan nodded, swallowing the nausea coming up.

"I do not know why they torture him so." The girl in the blue dress whispered, and Noah began to laugh. His body was immediately healed, he had not even a scare and he was now wearing an impeccable black suit.

"I win." He laughed.

"How? How are you revived?" Mrs. Saew demanded, making her hands glow in warning.

"Chorine finished the ceremony! She said 'I do'!" He laughed maniacally.

"Yeah, but it wasn't about you!" Yugi yelled at him.

"The ceremony does not care in what form the words are said, just as long as the words 'I do' come first from her lips, and you heard her! She belongs to me now." He laughed, and the world melted from view.

"Tea!" Everyone screamed, but Noah simply laughed, and sped dear Chorine from the ceremony grounds with a laugh of victory.


	16. In the Virtual World

id:7384372

Yugi was shocked.

So shocked he ended up just sitting on his bed for hours, simply staring emptily into space.

They had been so close! Tea had been right in front of them, and now...she was gone.

He couldn't comprehend the fact.

Tea was gone, just..._gone_.

And he had failed to save her, Noah had won. Tea had saved them all, and Noah had still _won_. Yugi wasn't to happy with that. And now, how were they supposed to save her? According to both Noah and Tea herself, Tea Gardner no longer existed, this _Chorine_ was here. How did you save someone who didn't exist anymore?

"You cannot help her Yugi, she is lost even to herself." Atem murmured gently.

"But-" "She will return once she remembers herself, we can do nothing until then." Atem said quietly, leaning against the far wall.

"But, _Noah_ has her! We can't just stay here and do nothing!" Yugi shouted, wanting to throw something.

"That is all there is we can do. You must be patient, Yugi. She will return, just wait." Yugi sighed as The Pharaoh's words sunk in, and with a groan he flopped backwards on his bed. "Hopefully." Atem amended in a whisper. He wanted to encourage the desolate boy before him, but even to himself Tea's return was a mystery.

33333

Chorine was happy. She was in a large meadow, spinning and twirling in the grass with a laugh. She was in peace, bliss even. The sun was shining with a perfect warmth, the wind was whispering against her skin, and Noah was walking towards her with his calm assurance. She did not remember anything from before she had pledged her loyalty to him, but the memories made after were perfectly fine for her.

"Noah!" She laughed, waving to him before letting herself fall onto the grassy floor with a giggle. The memories she had made so far made her feel special, and Noah took a dominate role in each of them. The man walking toward her smiled and she looked down at the grass blade in her fingers with a blush. Love was a funny thing, it made her feel like a little school girl all over again. Noah sank down to her level across from her, and gently pushed her head up so she was looking at him. She smiled a shy smile, and he gave a dazzling smile in response.

"My dear brunette rose, how are you? My blue eyed angel, how do you fare on this fine afternoon?" He asked with interest.

"Oh, nothing I could say could every be that interesting. What about you? What have _you_ been up to?" Tea giggled in reply, and Noah just looked at her.

"Oh, it's been fine, but seeing you tops the cake, my dear Chorine." Noah replied. Chorine blinked unsure as he said her name. Her name was Chorine, she reminded herself. Somehow, over the past week she had begun to feel that Chorine was not her birth name, and she had brought it up with Noah one night. She flashed back as her thoughts went into disarray.

"_Noah, I've been thinking, is my name really Chorine? I don't really look like a Chorine, I look more like a Taylor, or a Tammy, or maybe even a Tina. But, I'm just not sure if my name is Chorine anymore." _

"_Of course you're name is Chorine, don't be silly. Your name _is_ Chorine, you're just tired darling. You need your sleep, so I think it's time for you to drift off into dreamland." He had told her firmly._

"_Yes, of course, how silly of me. But is it even possible-"_

"_Sleep, Chorine, now." Noah had demanded, and she had quickly drifted off into dreamland._

Chorine hadn't brought up her name since. But she still had a feeling her name wasn't what Noah was telling her it was. She just wasn't sure what.

"What's wrong, darling?" Noah asked, pushing a strand of the girl's hair out of her face.

"Nothing, Noah. Just got lost in my thoughts." She shrugged in reply, trying to remember if her name was made up. How could she forget her own name? Was that even possible? And if she wasn't Chorine Kaiba, then who was she?

"Come now, you can tell me anything." He prodded, but Chorine kept her thoughts to herself.

"Nothing, let's go home, okay? I never made those pancakes I promised you." She smiled, pulling him to his feet.

"Okay, Chor, whatever you say." He replied with a sigh, getting to his feet and giving her a kiss. "Whatever makes you happiest." Smiling, she took his hand and lightly pulled them toward their home.

33333

Chorine jerked awake, gasping in fear. The covers were held in a death grip, and her heart felt like it would burst from her chest in fright. _Another nightmare._ Chorine thought worriedly, was something wrong with her? She was having a sequence of dreams, each in an order like a line up in an episode guide. She didn't know any of the characters taking part in her nightmares, but apparently they knew her.

The first nightmare had started with one of her 'friend's' grandparent's soul being taken, and each nightmare followed in sequential order. There were duels taking predominance in each dream, and in them the three main characters that were there every time was a boy with tri colored hair, a blond hotheaded duelist, and a brunette that always stood by for support. She felt she knew them, but upon waking she had never met them in her life, not to mention they always called her 'Tea' and she certainly couldn't be the Tea they were referring her dream self as.

Chorine gasped as this dream slowly faded away. This time she was past the first few dreams, the ones her dream people referred to as 'Duelist Kingdom'. She was now watching as someone she knew as a friend, someone named Mai, lost their soul to the shadow realm. It was all so real, and yet, it couldn't be, could it? It couldn't be, she had no memory of the events taking place. Still, she knew someone was waiting for her, someone who didn't love her like Noah did, someone who loved her as a best friend.

Still, it was simply a dream.

It couldn't be real, it was just a dream. Chorine carefully lay back down, closing her eyes and focusing her mind on Noah's breathing. He always had a way of calming her down. She smiled as she slowly drifted back to sleep, another dream awaiting her. This one made her scream, someone was trying to steal _her_ soul, and once again she was being saved by someone other than Noah. She wasn't getting it, where were all the memories coming from? Why did her life seem to be running together with all this fake stuff? What was wrong with her?

"_Do you really want to know?" _A voice whispered in her dream, and Chorine found herself in a black mist, twirling around in an attempt to find the owner of the voice. _"You won't see me unless I want you to."_

"Who are you?" She demanded.

"_Have you already forgotten me? I know it has been a while since the ice cavern in the virtual realm, but I did not think I would be completely forgotten." _The voice chuckled, and Chorine could tell it was feminine.

"Who _are _you?" Chorine called out again, and a magician girl came floating out off the mist. She looked like the magician girl card, but Chorine knew it wasn't just any magician girl, it was someone else, someone who was a bit more important. But she didn't remember _why_.

"_Oh, come now, don't you remember? Of course not, I forgot. Noah holds all your memories, but they cannot be completely wiped from from the mind. Each dream you've been having was a remembrance of older memories, from long before the oath with Noah."_

"My previous memories?" Chorine whispered confused.

"_Chorine, you know your name is false, correct? You have had the feeling it is false, have you not? You know this is not the world you reside it, there is another. Another world, a different set of friends, the ones that plague your mind each night. Do you remember who they are?" _

"Not really." Chorine had to say in a small voice.

"_Let's see what we can remember. The blond is Joey Wheeler, he is a hot headed duelist with a fierce sense of loyalty and family. He would protect his friends to the end." _Chorine remembered the blond from her dreams, now she was able to paste a name with a face. _"The brunette is Tristan Taylor, he does not duel unless extreme difficulties demand it. He is protective of his friends, and loves to goof of with Joey. Tristan is a loyal friend, and tends to 'cheerlead' with you at Joey or Yugi's duels." _Yugi. The name rang a bell, but she couldn't remember from where. _"Then comes the tri haired child prodigy. He is a duelist unlike all others, but that is because of the spirit that resides in him."_

"The Pharaoh." Chorine whispered.

"_Correct. You complete a circle, Chorine. Well, Chorine doesn't, but a certain brunette does. Do you know who I am?" _The magician asked carefully. _"I was your deck master if you remember."_

"The...The Dark Magician Girl." She whispered. "My...deck master?" She tried to remember confused.

"_Would you like to remember, child, everything that was taken from you?" _

"What would I remember?" She asked in a small voice.

"_Everything that has been forgotten. From the earliest of your thoughts, to now. I have an ability that can remind you, and if I can't, I have a fellow spell caster who can." _Another mage joined Chorine in the darkness, one Chorine knew somehow.

"The Magician of Faith." She whispered.

"_Have faith, Tea." _The Magician of Faith told her.

"Whose-"

"_You know you are not Chorine, young one. Be strong, know who you are." _The Dark Magician Girl whispered, and Chorine tried in vain to remember.

"I can't." She had to say.

"_Sister, we must awaken her once more." _The Faith Magician said with a bowed head.

"_How is it she cannot remember, Faith? Her ability should have made her remember!"_

"_Noah may have taken it, sister. Many an ability has been stolen because of their power."_

"_But this is Tea! This is an impossible task!" _The Dark Magician Girl argued, and as the two mages continued to fight, Chorine began to remember more. She was about seven or eight, in a game shop of some sort.

"Tea come see this!" A voice called, and her earlier self raced toward a tri colored boy.

"What'd you get, Yugi?" Her earlier self asked eagerly.

"This is the Magician of Faith, this is the card I think you're most like." He proclaimed proudly, and let the girl hold it.

"Is it powerful?" She had asked.

"Not really, but it's got a lot of special abilities. If you play it right, then it can be invincible!" The boy had exclaimed, and Chorine was pushed out of the memory. Special abilities, she had one. Chorine Kaiba had an ability, she knew it! But, what was it? It wasn't one that could be used in battle, like super strength or something, it was closer to home, something important all the same. It helped her remember, but remember _what_?

"_She has to remember! It is her gift!" _The Dark Magician Girl was shouting, and then Tea remembered. She wasn't Chorine Kaiba, she never was.

She remembered.

She was Tea Gardner, cheerleader extraordinaire, friendship keeper to a fault, and the only girl of her generation with the ability of remembrance.

It was a rare power, one that could make her invincible. Her thoughts could never be fully taken away, because her gift allowed her to remember everything even when thoughts and memories had been taken away from her. It explained why after a bad hit on the head she hadn't gotten amnesia, why her memories were still as clear as day. Her 'special ability' was remembering truth, always. It didn't matter her situation, where she was, or who she was with, she would always remember.

After all, it was her gift.

It explained why she was the only one who had been able to remember after Noah had Taken everyone to his virtual world, why she had been the one to face evil instead of Yugi or The Pharaoh.

She was the only one who could remember, a parting gift from her mother. And now Tea remembered, and she knew what came next.

"_I think our duty is done, sister." _Faith smiled, and with a tip of Dark Magician Girl's hat Tea was awake in her own bed.

"I remember." Tea whispered as she sat up.

"What was that, dear?" Noah asked her curiously, and she turned to find him beside her.

"I said, 'I remember'." She repeated more forcefully.

"Remembered what?" Noah asked carefully.

"Everything." She replied, getting up. "And I'm getting out of here."

"How do you propose doing that?" Noah asked, leaning on his had on the bed.

"You'll let me go."

"Quite an idea!" He laughed, until he saw Tea's serious face. "Oh, you weren't joking."

"Of course not!" She exploded.

"You can't leave, Chorine. You are bonded by oath to me."

"No, _Chorine _is bonded to you. She doesn't exist!"

"_You_ are Chorine, my dear, and I demand you forget everything again."

"You can't make me forget Noah, I remembered everything, and I won't let you take them from me again."

"What a cute idea." He scoffed.

"I propose an idea." Tea finally decided. "Let me go, and take us back, back to the beginning."

"I don't know what you're suggesting."

"I'm suggesting this, turn back time. I know you can. Turn it back both here and on Earth, start over again. Go back far enough so you can stop that car crash, so you never end up here to begin with."

"That is impossible." Noah sighed.

"'Impossible' is what you seem to do best, Noah." She smiled, and Noah had to smile in return.

"Many an idea I have made real, true, true. But you're suggesting messing with the laws of nature, that is something that _is_ impossible."

"Try." Tea demanded, and Noah got up fully dressed and suddenly was creating screens all around him, fiddling with one, creating equations on another.

"Hm, no the three can't be on top, no. maybe if I..." Noah murmured, and Tea took a seat on the bed. She was afraid of the consequences of messing with nature, if Noah was never sent here, would Gozaboro Kaiba have adopted either Kaiba or Mokuba? Would the course of history become altered if they did this? Would they be doing something incredibly dumb? Would-

"Done!" Noah suddenly exclaimed, and he pulled the screen with the equation over to Tea. "See if we change this three into a-"

"I don't need to know, Noah, I don't think it would be smart for time travel to get out." She broke in.

"Probably right, anyway, mechanics are already building it, they should be done in-"

"We're finished!" A voice shouted.

"Now." Noah smiled, taking the brunette's hand and leading her to a garage.

"I think we did a pretty good job." A mechanic was saying, wiping the grease and oil off his hands. "Meet the Traveler 2.0, can take you anywhere in history, anywhere in the world. Care to go for a spin?" He asked with a grin. The Traveler was a 70s' Dodge challenger in a dark blue, black leather interior, and the license plate proclaiming TIME EZ.

"Wha..." Tea breathed, shocked. Who there really _was_ such thing as a time traveling car? "Cool." She smiled.

"Care for a test drive?" Noah asked, opening the passenger door. Giving a gracious nod, Tea entered the automobile. She wasn't sure why Noah was going to let her go, but it worked for her. Noah settled himself into the front seat, and after fiddling with a few knobs, stepped on the gas. The colors around them changed, and then they were out of the garage speeding down a highway in what appeared to be Domino City.

"We _are_ on Earth, right?" Tea asked sceptically.

"Of course." Naoh replied calmly. "I don't know if this will work. I doubt I'll get my body back."

"I'll make sure that happens." Tea promised. "Let's get me home, and then you can go back and get that body of yours."

"Aren't you going with me?" Noah asked surprised.

"I can't, Noah. If I go back with you then I'll be stuck with no way to my present, and if you leave me here we both get what we want." She explained.

"Okay Tea." Noah finally consented.

"Thank you Noah." She murmured in reply. The drive to her house was silent, and Tea found herself looking at Noah sadly. He had become part of her life, she realized, even though he had kept her captive all these days, months. He drove her up to her front door, and let her out.

"I'll miss you." He suddenly said, and Tea looked at him surprised. "I will, I didn't single you out for no real reason, you know. You were different from everyone else, I thought you would get me, the real me."

"What did you expect Noah? You kept me prisoner in a virtual dimension, that doesn't work well." She replied getting out. "But, I will miss you." She told him after she had gotten to his window. "You're different, too." She smiled, leaning through the open window to give him a peck on the cheek. "I'll miss you."

Tea watched Noah drive away, disappearing into another time. Letting loose a sigh, Tea turned to enter her empty house. Her parents were never home, but she loved them anyway. She let herself fall down on the sofa, and looked at the newspaper left out on the couch beside her. July 10, 2006. _Before anyone was ever Taken_, Tea realized with a start. Noah had taken them back to the beginning.

Everything was about to start all over again.

And hopefully, this time it would be different.


	17. Home

Things seemed to fall back into normalcy, well as normal as life got in Domino. So after being returned to her present time she simply flopped in bed and slept til the next day. With a clear cheerfulness, she bounded out of her house and toward school. At the top of the steps waiting was Yugi, and she waved and ran up the stairs to hug him.

"What was that for?" He asked with a laugh.

"Oh, I just missed you is all. I had this weird 'dream' and, never mind, it's not important." She smiled, keeping her little escapade to herself. "So how's Atem doing on this fine day?" She asked with a smile, but Yugi's only response was to frown.

"Who?" He asked.

"Oh, no one." Tea replied with a sigh. Noah had taken them back to the beginning, before The Pharaoh was to know his name, and Tea was perfectly fine with that.

"Yo, Yug, Tay, wait up for me!" Joey's voice called, and the blond entered the school grounds.

"Joey!" Tea exclaimed, running down the stairs to give him a hug. "I missed you." She smiled as she hugged him.

"Course ya did, Tea, 'cuz I'm the great Joey Wheeler! You can't forget me, it's just as simple as that."

"Oh Joey." She laughed, rolling her eyes.

"Hey everyone." Tristan said as he entered the school yard.

"Tristan!" She laughed, and raced to hug him.

"Whoa, Tea!" He laughed as he caught the dancer. "It's nice to see you too."

"I missed you so much!" She gushed, breaking away. She walked back up the stairs regaining her composure. "Hey Yugi, do you remember Noah?" She began curiously.

"Virtual Noah?" He asked surprised.

"Yeah, him."

"Course, took me forever to beat him, and he almost turned you into an icicle! I don't think I could forget about that, and Tristan became a robotic monkey, course I couldn't forget him!" Yugi sputtered surprised.

"Hm, so it did happen." Tea murmured, almost sad for Noah. He had been able to regain his body apparently, but in the end the results were the same. "Why did he end up in cyberspace Yugi?"

"Well, it seemed he had gotten cancer or something like that, and when his body started decaying Gozaboro Kaiba had his mind transferred over into cyberspace so he wouldn't lose his son. Don't you remember that, Tea?" Yugi explained.

"Not exactly that way." She replied with a smile. "But hey, I remember all the other important stuff right? Now let's get inside, it's about to pour!" Tea called as the skies darkened with rain.

In the end, Tea thought sadly as she settled into her homeroom seat, Noah ended up evil. I guess, that sometimes fate can't be changed. The skies dropped down tiny little tears, and Tea bowed her head in quiet remembrance.

333

School let out with a happy bring, and Yugi and Tea found themselves back at a restaurant eating a midday snack.

"So Tea, you've seemed a little down all day. What's wrong?" Yugi began with concern.

"Oh, it's nothing Yugi. Random bits of nothing." The brunette replied with a sigh, and then gasped. Down the road and standing in the middle was a girl in a long back dress, and a floppy black hat covering her eyes, and part of her black sunglasses. The figure was tall and lithe, feminine, and had long black hair. The girl pulled down her glasses to the edge of her nose and gave a grin and a wink before pushing her glasses back up. "Rek?" Tea whispered shocked. The girl gave a tip of her hat and turned away, quickly joined by a girl in a more modern Dark Magician Girl outfit. Tea shook her head with a laugh. "It's nothing Yugi, absolutely nothing."


End file.
